499 


? 
/ 


/  ^  / 


SAMUEL    KIMBALL    ELLIS 
Rockville,  Conn. 

Past  Commander  and  Chaplain  of  Burpee  Post,  No.  71, 
G.  A.  R. 


THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  REGIMENT 


Connecticut 
Volunteers 


IN   THE  WAR  OF  THE  REBELLION 


History,    Reminiscences,    Description    of    Battle    of    Irish 
Bend,  Carrying  of  Pay  Roll,  Roster. 


PUBLISHED  JUNE,  1913 

PRESS  OF  THE  ROCKVH,I,E  JOURNAL 
ROCKVH.I.E,   CONN. 


r— 


Brief  History  of  the  Twenty-fifth   Regiment,  Connecticut 

Volunteers,  from  the  pen  of  Colonel  George 

P.  Bissell. 


Experiences  and  Reminiscences  of  Samuel  K.  Ellis  of  Rock- 

ville,  who  went  out  as  a  Private  in  Company  G, 

Twenty-fifth   Regiment. 


A  Complete  Account  of  the  Battle  of  Irish  Bend,  Given 
by  Major  Thomas  McManus. 


How  the  Pay  of  a  Regiment  Was  Carried  to  New  Orleans 
by  First  Lieutenant  Henry  Hill  Goodell. 


GEORGE    P.   BISSELL 
Deceased 

Colonel  25th  Regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  REGI 
MENT,  C.  V. 

The  Twenty-fifth  Regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers, 
(George  P.  Bissell,  Colonel),  was  recruited  in  Hartford  and 
Tolland  Counties,  in  the  fall  of  1862.  The  regiment  was 
composed  of  the  very  best  material,  being  almost  exclusive 
ly  young  men  impelled  by  patriotic  motives,  and  from  the 
first  they  took  a  high  stand  for  efficiency  and  good  dis 
cipline. 

Later  in  its  history,  when  the  regiment  had  been  tried 
in  marches  and  battles,  it  was  thus  described  by  Adjutant- 
General  Morse  in  his  report  to  the  Legislature  for  1864: 
"This  is  one  of  the  best  of  our  nine  months'  regiments  and 
bore  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  advance  upon,  and  the  cam 
paign  preceding,  the  fall  of  Port  Hudson.  By  the  bravery 
always  displayed  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  the  patience  and 
endurance  manifested  on  many  long  and  arduous  marches, 
it  has  won  for  itself  a  high  and  lasting  reputation." 

The  Twenty-fifth  was  mustered  into  the  United  States 
service  November  11,  1862,  and  on  the  14th  sailed  from 
Hartford  for  Centerville,  L.  I.,  to  join  at  that  rendezvous 
the  Banks  Expedition.  The  muster-roll  showed  811  men 
thoroughly  drilled  and  well  appointed,  except  that  they 
were  without  rifles  which  were  later  served  to  them  on  the 
ship  after  their  arrival  on  the  Mississippi  River. 
The  regiment  embarked  November  29,  1862,  in  two 
divisions; — one  division  of  five  companies  under  com 
mand  of  Colonel  Bissell  on  the  Steamer  Mary  Board- 
man  ;  and  the  remainder  under  command  of  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Stevens  on  the  Steamer  Empire  City.  The  destina 
tion  of  the  expedition  was  unknown  when  the  vessels  sailed 
as  the  sealed  orders  were  not  to  be  opened  until  we  had 
sailed  twenty-four  hours  to  the  southward  and  eastward. 
The  orders,  when  opened,  were  found  to  be  simply  to  re 
port  at  Ship  Island,  off  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
allowing  a  stop  at  Dry  Fortugas  for  coal  if  necessary.  The 
ships  duly  arrived  at  Ship  Island  and  proceeded  at  once  up 

M198515 


6 

the  river  to  New  Orleans  where  they  arrived  on  the  14th  of 
December,  1862.  On  the  16th,  the  Mary  Boardman,  with 
several  of  the  other  ships  proceeded  to  Baton  Rouge,  where 
they  arrived  the  next  day.  The  Empire  City  landed  the 
left  wing  of  the  regiment  at  Camp  Parapet,  just  above  New 
Orleans.  The  forces  landed  at  Baton  Rouge  after  a  brief 
bombardment  of  the  city  and  the  Twenty-fifth  (five  com 
panies),  went  into  camp  first  on  the  United  States  Arsenal 
ground  in  the  city  and  later  near  the  cemetery,  back  of  the 
city,  where  after  some  delay  the  left  wing  joined  the  col 
onel's  command  and  the  regiment  was  once  more  united 
and  in  fighting  trim.  The  regiment  was  first  brigaded 
under  General  Albert  E.  Payne  of  Wisconsin,  a  noble  and 
brave  officer,  afterwards  with  the  Thirteenth  Connecticut. 
The  Twenty-sixth  Maine  and  One-Hundred  and  Fifty- 
ninth  New  York,  under  Colonel  H.  W.  Birge,  of  the  Thir 
teenth  Connecticut,  as  Brigade  Commander,  an  officer  of 
rare  ability  and  bravery  and  a  disciplinarian  of  the  best 
stamp.  Under  his  command  the  Twenty-fifth  served  dur 
ing  its  entire  term  of  service.  He  led  them  in  many  battles 
and  marches  and  while  he  was  strictness  personified,  he  was 
so  magnanimous,  brave,  reasonable  and  such  a  thorough 
soldier,  that  the  men  worshiped  him  and  would  follow  him 
into  the  face  of  any  fire.  Now  that  he  is  gone  they  revere 
his  memory. 

The  first  work  of  the  regiment  was  on  the  advance  on 
Port  Hudson,  March  10,  1863,  when  Colonel  Bissell,  in  com 
mand  of  his  own  regiment,  two  detachments  of  cavalry  and 
a  regular  army  battery,  occupied  Bayou  Montesano,  con 
structed  earthworks  and  built  a  bridge  across  Bayou  Sara. 
This  bridge  was  designed  by  Sergeant  William  Webster  of 
Company  I,  after  a  West  Point  engineer  had  despaired  of 
the  job.  The  regiment  was  seven  miles  in  advance  of  the 
rest  of  the  army  and  in  a  very  exposed  and  dangerous  posi 
tion.  This  position  they  held  under  a  frequently  severe 
fire  till  the  remainder  of  the  army  came  up  when  they  joined 
the  column  and  went  on  to  Port  Hudson.  They  were  in 


the  front  of  the  land  forces  when  Farragut  sailed  by  the 
forts  in  the  Flagship  Hartford.  From  the  banks  of  the 
river  the  Twenty-fifth  witnessed  this  grand  bombardment 
and  the  burning  of  the  frigate  Mississippi  in  the  night. 

When  the  object  of  the  expedition  had  been  accom 
plished  (to  use  the  words  of  General  Banks'  order),  the 
regiment  returned  to  Baton  Rouge,  passing  a  wet  and 
dreary  night  in  Camp  Misery,  a  night  which  will  never  be 
forgotten,  nor  will  any  one  ever  forget  the  noble  act  of 
Quartermaster  John  S.  Ives,  who  rode  his  tired  horse  sev 
eral  miles  to  Baton  Rouge  and  brought  out  to  the  men 
coffee,  which  they  managed  to  prepare  over  small  fires  and 
which  no  doubt  saved  many  a  man's  life.  After  a  short 
stay  at  Baton  Rouge,  the  army  made  another  advance  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  starting  March  28th,  1863, 
marching  with  frequent  skirmishes,  sailing  up  the  Atcha- 
falaya  bayou  and  landing  at  Irish  Bend,  where  the  regiment 
engaged  in  its  first  real  battle,  April  14th,  1863.  The 
severity  of  this  battle  may  be  judged  of  as  we  read  in  the 
Adjutant-general's  report:  "Our  loss,  as  you  will  see  from 
the  accompanying  returns  of  the  casualties  has  been  very 
severe,  being  in  all,  ninety-six  killed  and  wounded  out  of 
350  with  which  the  regiment  went  into  action." 

From  this  point  the  regiment  marched  up  to  within  six 
miles  of  the  Red  River  and  of  this  march  the  regimental 
report  speaks  thus :  "What  with  our  loss  in  battle,  details 
for  special  service  and  the  number  who  have  given  out  on 
our  very  long  and  severe  marches,  this  regiment  is  much 
reduced  and  has  today  only  299  men  present  of  whom  but 
248  are  fit  for  duty.  You  will  thus  see,  though  this  cam 
paign  has  been  eminently  successful,  driving  the  enemy 
before  us  through  the  entire  valley  of  the  Teche,  from  its 
mouth  to  its  source,  it  has  been  very  trying  upon  the  troops. 
Four  engagements  and  300  miles  march  in  twenty  days  call 
for  proportionate  suffering  which  cannot  be  avoided." 

During  May  and  June  the  regiment  was  actively  en 
gaged  in  the  siege  of  Port  Hudson,  and  was  almost  con- 


8 


stantly  under  fire  in  the  trenches  and  in  the  various  assaults 
on  that  stronghold,  leading  the  advance  on  the  23rd  of  May 
when  a  junction  was  formed  with  General  Auger's  column 
which  completed  the  investment  of  the  place.  During  all 
the  siege  the  regiment  was  constantly  in  the  front  and 
finally  participated  in  the  glories  of  the  surrender  of  the 
fortress  on  the  8th  of  July,  having  been  in  almost  constant, 
arduous  duty,  marching  and  fighting  since  early  in  March. 

After  the  surrender  of  Port  Hudson,  the  regiment  re 
turned  to  Donaldsonville,  where  it  encamped  till  the  expira 
tion  of  term  of  service.  Colonel  Bissell  sent  to  General 
Banks  and  offered  himself  and  his  command  to  remain 
longer  in  the  department  if  our  services  were  needed;  but 
he  replied  that  there  would  probably  be  no  more  fighting, 
and  thanking  us  for  our  offer,  he  issued  an  order  returning 
us  to  our  homes.  The  regiment  was  finally  mustered  out 
at  Hartford,  August  26,  1863. 

In  closing  this  brief  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  gallant 
Twenty-fifth  Regiment,  a  few  words  may  be  permitted  in 
praise  of  the  good  and  true  men  of  which  it  was  composed. 
With  very  few  and  unimportant  exceptions,  they  were  of 
the  best  sort  of  men,  who  were  ever  banded  together  for  the 
defense  of  their  country.  They  submitted  to  rigorous  dis 
cipline  cheerfully,  they  marched  promptly  and  they  fought 
bravely.  A  review  of  official  records  shows  that  the  regi 
ment  was  complimented  a  great  many  times  by  General 
Grover  A.  Birge  for  the  promptness  with  which  it  always 
moved  and  for  its  bravery  as  shown  time  and  again  in 
battle  and  under  severe  fire. 

Ever  ready  and  always  pushed  to  the  front  in  time  of 
danger  of  an  attack,  the  Twenty-fifth  was  an  organization 
of  which  the  state  need  not  be  ashamed.  When  it  was  in 
the  field  it  was  an  honor  to  the  army  and  to  the  volunteer 
service  of  our  country,  and  now  that  fifty  years  have  rolled 
by  the  heart  of  many  a  survivor  swells  with  just  pride  as  he 
says  to  his  children  and  grandchildren :  "I  was  a  member  of 
the  Twenty-fifth  Connecticut/' 


9 

In  closing  this  brief  sketch  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Regi 
ment,  of  which  Colonel  Bissell  is  the  author,  you  will  see 
that  he  was  very  proud  of  the  men  under  his  command  and 
if  you  could  have  seen  him  drilling  his  regiment  at  that 
time,  as  I  still  see  him  in  memory,  you  would  know  that  he 
fairly  worshiped  them.  I  am  sure  the  men  would  have  fol 
lowed  him  into  any  fire  against  overwhelming  odds.  And 
now  he  is  gone,  the  men  that  are  left  cherish  his  memory. 

INTERESTING     REMINISCENCES     AND     EXPERI 
ENCES  BY  SAMUEL  K.  ELLIS. 

In  opening  the  subject  of  my  experiences  as  a  private 
in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  I  hardly  know  how  to  begin 
as  this  is  the  first  time  I  have  attempted  to  write  at  length 
upon  this  subject.  I  earnestly  hope  that  all  those  who 
read  this  little  book  will  excuse  all  grammatical  errors. 

Fifty  years  have  come  and  gone  and  as  my  life  has 
been  spared  to  see  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  my  army  life, 
and  as  I  kept  a  diary  during  my  term  of  service  in  the  War 
of  the  Rebellion,  I  thought  it  no  more  than  right  and  just 
to  myself  and  descendants  that  I  leave  in  book  form  some 
of  the  many  experiences  I  saw  and  passed  through  during 
that  time.  It  seemed  to  me  that  it  was  a  grand  opportunity 
on  this  the  fiftieth  anniversary  to  do  it,  if  I  ever  did.  Hop 
ing  that  this  account  of  my  army  life  may  be  highly  appre 
ciated  and  prized  by  my  children  and  grandchildren  and 
any  others  that  may  be  interested,  I  will  endeavor  to  give 
a  complete  account  as  I  saw  and  recorded  events. 

I  was  a  Vernon  Center  boy  but  was  working  in  the 
town  of  Glastonbury,  when  the  war  broke  out,  with 
Hubbard  and  Broadhead  at  teaming  and  farm  work.  At  this 
time  the  gloom  was  deep  but  the  people  were  not  discour 
aged.  At  the  request  of  the  governors  of  eighteen  loyal 
states,  President  Lincoln,  on  July  2nd,  1862,  called  out  three 
hundred  thousand  men  for  three  years'  service,  and  on 
August  4,  ordered  a  call  for  three  hundred  thousand  men 
for  nine  months.  At  this  time  it  was  hard  to  tell  what 


10 

one's  duty  was,  but  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  go  and  of 
course  I  have  never  been  sorry,  as  I  look  back  and  say  with 
just  pride  that  I  was  one  who  went  out  to  help  save  our 
Republic  from  dissolution  and  preserve  civilization  itself  on 
this  Western  Hemisphere  from  destruction. 

I  fear  I  have  been  wandering  from  my  subject  already 
but  I  could  not  help  giving  expression  to  the  thoughts  that 
were  burning  within  me.  Yes,  I  was  a  Vernon  Center  boy, 
my  father  moving  there  when  I  was  sixteen  years  old.  I 
enlisted  September  2nd,  1862,  in  Company  G,  Twenty-fifth 
Regiment,  C.  V.  Our  company  met  in  Hartford,  near  the 
old  State  House  (what  is  now  City  Hall),  on  the  morning 
of  September  8th.  'We  marched  down  to  camp  before  noon 
on  that  day,  but  instead  of  finding  tents  to  sleep  in  we 
found  a  string  of  barracks  long  enough  for  a  thousand  men. 
I  want  to  tell  you  how  they  looked  as  I  remember  them. 
They  resembled  the  cattle  sheds  that  we  see  nowadays  at 
our  fairs,  except  that  they  were  built  with  three  tiers,  in 
stead  of  one.  The  bunks  were  made  for  two  men,  one 
above  the  other,  about  four  feet  wide.  Of  course  we  had 
to  have  a  little  straw  to  lay  over  the  "soft  side"  of  the 
boards.  This  building  I  believe  we  named  ''The  Palace 
Hotel"  because  of  its  "great  beauty  and  comfort."  I  won 
der  if  you  can  imagine  how  tempting  those  bunks  looked 
after  leaving  the  good  beds  that  we  had  been  accustomed 
to.  I  think  there  were  some  pretty  homesick  boys  that  first 
night  in  our  new  quarters,  if  I  remember  correctly.  But 
the  food !  Well,  I  don't  think  I  had  better  say  much  about 
that,  for  I  had  been  a  farmer  boy  and  I  think  I  had  the  ad 
vantage  over  some  of  the  boys,  as  I  knew  what  it  was  to 
rough  it  and  go  without  my  dinner  in  the  winter  time  when 
the  days  were  short  and  I  would  be  out  in  the  woods  all 
day  chopping,  or  drawing  logs  with  an  ox  team. 

We  left  our  old  camp  ground  on  November  18,  1862, 
with  flying  colors,  to  the  tune  of  "Dixie"  and  "The 
Star  Spangled  Banner,"  and  other  patriotic  airs.  But 
all  this  did  not  occur  without  many  tearful  eyes,  for  the 


11 

streets  were  crowded  with  friends  and  loved  ones  that  were 
to  be  left  behind.  We  pulled  out  of  the  dock  at  the  foot  of 
State  street  on  the  steamer  City  of  Hartford  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  We  arrived  at  Williams- 
burg,  L.  I.,  early  the  next  morning,  and  the  good 
people  of  that  city  treated  us  with  all  the  sandwiches  and 
coffee  that  we  wanted.  W"e  marched  about  ten  miles,  with 
a  portable  bureau  or  what  you  might  call  a  knapsack  on 
our  backs,  before  one  o'clock  that  day,  to  the  Centerville 
race  course.  !We  pitched  our  tents  and  made  things  as 
comfortable  as  we  could  for  the  night  as  you  must  know  it 
was  quite  cold  weather,  it  being  the  last  of  November. 
There  is  no  place  that  reveals  the  real  character  of  a  man 
so  quickly  and  so  clearly  as  a  shelter  tent  in  an  army  on 
the  field.  All  there  is  in  him,  be  it  noble  or  base,  strong  or 
weak,  is  brought  to  the  front  by  the  peculiar  experiences 
of  the  soldier.  The  life  of  a  soldier  in  camp  is  tedious  and 
wearisome,  but  when  a  regiment  starts  for  the  field  under 
a  government  not  prepared  for  war  (ours  was  not),  the  real 
trials  of  the  soldier  begin.  When  our  regiment  arrived  at 
the  camp  at  Centerville,  after  a  march  of  ten  miles,  we 
found  that  no  provision  had  been  made  for  us, — and  it  now 
being  the  last  of  November.  In  the  small  hours  of 
the  morning  Colonel  Bissell  drilled  the  regiment  on  a 
double  quick  movement  on  the  race  course  to  warm  us  up. 
The  regiment  was  ordered  to  embark  on  November  29.  The 
Twenty-fifth  regiment  was  to  have  started  on  Saturday 
when  lo !  just  as  we  were  drawn  up  in  line  prepara 
tory  to  a  start,  General  Banks'  orderly  gallops  up,  bringing 
an  order  for  Companies  C,  D,  F,  and  G  to  remain  behind 
and  go  with  the  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut.  Here  was  a 
pretty  fix,  for  tents,  baggage,  and  everything  had  already 
gone.  To  add  to  our  troubles  up  came  one  of  the  hardest 
rainstorms,  such  as  only  Long  Island  can  produce.  As 
there  was  no  other  place,  we  were  compelled  to  quarter  in 
the  old  barn  which  was  later  turned  into  a  guard  house, 
where  we  slept  on  bare  boards.  Not  a  wisp  of  straw  had 
we  to  lie  on,  for  it  was  so  rainy  we  could  not  gather  any. 


12 

On  the  evening  of  the  fourth  of  December,  we  received 
marching  orders,  and  at  about  8  o'clock,  we  were  very  glad 
to  get  away  from  this  forsaken  place,  which  we  did  in  a 
hurry.  We  arrived  in  Brooklyn  about  12  o'clock  that  night 
and  I  assure  you  it  was  no  easy  matter  to  find  a  place  to 
stay  till  morning.  It  was  a  long  cold  December  night. 
The  men  got  places  wherever  they  could  find  them.  I 
and  several  other  comrades  stayed  with  a  Doctor  Green. 
We  were  up  early  in  the  morning  and  the  doctor  wanted 
us  all  to  stay  and  have  breakfast  with  him,  an  invitation 
which  we  accepted  with  thanks.  I  wrote  a  letter  to  my 
mother  while  there. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  of  December  we  embarked 
on  the  steamer  Empire  City  with  the  Twenty-sixth  Con 
necticut  Regiment.  The  men  of  the  Twenty-sixth  were  in 
the  hold  of  the  vessel  while  the  Twenty-fifth  men  took  a 
deck  passage  which  we  didn't  appreciate  especially  at  this 
season  of  the  year,  December  6th.  We  left  the  Atlantic 
Dock,  Brooklyn,  at  six  o'clock  that  morning.  We  hadn't 
been  out  long  before  the  water  became  quite  rough  and  the 
steamer  plunged  and  rolled  dreadfully  which  made  the 
soldiers  very  sea-sick. 

December  7th  was  dark  and  boisterous  and  the  good 
old  ship  creaked  and  swayed  on  the  mighty  deep.  By  the 
way,  I  hadn't  been  sea-sick  since  we  left  the  Atlantic  dock, 
but  I  could  not  help  laughing,  the  first  day  we  were  out,  to 
see  the  guards  of  the  vessel  from  stem  to  stern  lined  up 
with  anxious  sea-gazers,  their  knees  knocking  together, 
their  countenances  ashen  and  a  very  intimate  connection 
evidently  existing  between  the  stomach  and  the  mouth. 
Even  my  risibiles  were  aroused  though  myself  not  entire 
ly  insensible  to  the  attractions  of  Neptune. 

December  8th.  It  was  Sunday  and  when  daylight 
came  it  brought  with  it  a  calmer  sea  and  a  more  jolly  set 
of  soldiers,  although  the  water  was  several  inches  deep  on 
deck.  That  day  was  spent,  as  all  others,  without  any 
religious  exercises  so  we  had  nothing  to  do  but  watch  the 


13 

porpoises,  of  which  there  had  been  a  great  many  in  sight 
all  day. 

W*e  had  been  out  of  sight  of  land  since  the  previous 
day  at  noon.  Well,  we  had  found  out  where  our  expedi 
tion  was  going.  It  was  going  to  sea.  One  thing  was  cer 
tain,  we  were  going  pretty  far  south. 

December  9th.  The  weather  had  become  quite  fine. 
The  boys  had,  most  of  them,  gotten  over  being  sea-sick. 
As  the  Twenty-sixth  boys  began  to  feel  as  though  they  had 
rather  be  on  deck  than  down  in  that  dirty  hole,  we  were 
in  pretty  close  quarters,  for  I  think  there  were  as  many  as 
twelve  hundred  men  on  this  old  unseaworthy  ship  which 
had  been  used  as  a  transport  in  the  California  trade  for  a 
great  many  years.  So  I  was  told  by  Harlan  Skinner, 
who  went  out  as  Sutler's  clerk  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Regi 
ment.  (He  was  a  brother  of  Town  Clerk  Francis  B.  Skin 
ner  of  Rockville  and  went  to  California  on  board  of  her  in 
1849). 

December  10th.  We  were  still  out  of  sight  of  land. 
Some  of  us  might  be  imagined  reading  the  Bible  or  some 
other  interesting  book  and  others  were  lying  asleep  on 
deck,  while  the  rest  were  watching  and  wondering  where 
we  were  going  to  land,  I  suppose. 

December  llth.  It  was  much  warmer,  and  very  pleas 
ant.  We  were  still  out  of  sight  of  land.  Spying  an  Eng 
lish  vessel,  we  ran  up  the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  they  ran 
up  their  flag  to  let  us  know  that  all  was  right.  Some  of  the 
boys  sang  out,  just  for  a  little  fun,  that  the  old  Rebel  gun 
boat  Alabama  was  in  sight. 

December  12th  we  came  in  sight  of  the  coast  of  Flori 
da.  We  had  seen  the  trees  and  the  snow  white  beach  about 
all  day.  We  also  saw  several  lighthouses.  The  porpoises 
and  flying  fish  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention  and  when 
a  school  came  in  sight,  all  eyes  were  turned  upon  them. 

December  13th.  It  has  been  very  pleasant  and  there 
has  been  a  smooth  sea,  consequently  we  have  had  a  very 
pleasant  day's  sail,  with  a  cool  breeze.  We  have  been  out 
of  sight  of  land  all  day,  and  we  long  to  be  on  shore  once 


14 

more.     As  we  are  so  dove-tailed  in,  when  we  try  to  lie 
down  at  night,  we  get  very  little  sleep. 

December  14th,  Sunday.  >We  were  now  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  and  there  had  not  been  a  living  thing  in  sight  all 
day.  We  had  a  sermon  preached  on  deck.  The  text  was, 
"Thou  shall  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord,  thy  God,  in 
vain." 

December  15th.  We  arrived  at  Ship  Island  at  noon  and 
found  about  the  most  God  forsaken,  miserable  hole,  man 
ever  got  into.  The  sand  was  ankle  deep  everywhere.  And 
such  a  lot  of  Negroes;  shiftless,  lazy  dogs,  black  as  the 
ace  of  spades  and  twice  as  natural.  But  the  little  "nigs" 
kill  me  outright,  they  looking  so  much  like  a  lot  of  mon 
keys,  I  know  of  nothing  so  comical.  I  could  sit  half  the 
morning  watching  them  and  hearing  them  jabber. 

December  16th.  We  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  River.  A  pilot  came  aboard  and  took  us  over  the 
bar  in  the  river  in  compliance  with  the  rules  of  navigation. 
We  had  a  very  pleasant  day's  sail  coming  up  the  old  Missis 
sippi.  We  saw  many  half  clad  slaves  on  the  banks  who 
seemed  much  pleased  to  think  that  Massa  Lincoln's  sol 
diers  were  coming  to  set  them  free.  We  arrived  in  New 
Orleans,  La.,  on  the  17th  of  December  and  got  our  fill  of 
oranges  and  victuals  before  the  peddlers  were  stopped  from 
supplying  us. 

I  want  to  tell  you  here  what  a  beautiful  sight  a  sunrise 
and  sunset  is  at  sea.  There  is  something  very  fascinating 
about  it. 

We  arrived  at  Carrollton,  just  above  New  Orleans,  and 
went  ashore  at  Camp  Parapet,  on  the  morning  of  Decem 
ber  18.  We  pitched  our  tents  in  the  afternoon  and  were 
very  glad  to  be  on  land  once  more  and  have  room  to  lie 
down  at  night. 

This  completes  my  narrative  of  our  sea  voyage  which 
I  certainly  have  never  forgotten,  after  having  such  an  ex 
perience  as  I  had  on  a  vessel  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity 
and  a  deck  passage  at  that. 


15 


December  19th.  We  have  cleaned  up,  washed  our 
clothing  and  are  drying  it  upon  our  backs,  thereby  saving 
the  trouble  of  hanging  it  on  the  bushes  to  dry. 

December  20th.  We  received  our  rifles  and  now  I  sup 
pose  we  shall  have  to  put  on  our  accourtrements  and  get 
right  down  to  drilling  in  the  manual  of  arms. 

December  21st.  I  was  on  guard  for  the  first  time  at 
Camp  Parrapet.  I  am  beginning  to  find  out  that  camp  life 
in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  was  quite  different  from  camp  life 
of  instruction  at  Camp  Parapet,  La. 

From  this  date  I  shall  omit  many  of  the  dates  and  un 
important  events  of  camp  life,  as  one  day  we  drill  the  next 
have  inspection,  so  every  day  brings  us  many  troubles. 

Christmas  Day.  We  don't  expect  a  very  elaborate  din 
ner.  No  doubt  we  shall  be  thinking  of  the  good  things  our 
friends  and  loved  ones  are  having  at  home.  Such  was  a 
soldier's  life  fifty  years  ago. 

December  30th.  Wrote  a  letter  to  mother  and  put 
some  small  magnolia  leaves,  a  magnolia  bud,  a  live  oak,  a 
cypress  and  several  other  varieties  into  it  which  I  have  in 
my  possession  to  this  day.  I  had  an  exquisitely  fine  sym 
pathy  with  vegetable  life  in  all  its  forms  and  especially  with 
trees. 

I  wrote  at  that  time :  "The  country  charms  me  with  its 
magnificent  lemon  and  orange  groves.  The  trees  are  per 
fectly  bowed  down  with  their  weight  of  fruit.  Upon  my 
word,  I  am  in  love  with  the  Sunny  South.  I  think  when 
this  cruel  war  is  over  and  I  can  find  my  affinity,  I  shall 
settle  down  in  this  beautiful  country  for  life.  But  I  am 
not  thinking  much  about  that  just  now,  for  the  girls  are 
not  much  in  love  with  the  Union  soldiers.  The  ladies  here 
wear  secesh  cockades  in  their  bonnets  and  it  is  really  amus 
ing  to  see  the  curl  of  the  lip  and  the  contempt  of  counte 
nance  with  which  they  sweep  by  us.  Of  course  it  is  no 
wonder,  when  we  take  into  consideration  the  way  they  have 
always  lived,  and  thought  that  they  were  fighting  for  a  just 
cause." 


16 

The  object  of  our  expedition  was  to  cooperate  with 
General  Grant  in  the  reduction  of  Vicksburg,  but 
General  Banks  did  not  know  until  he  arrived  at 
New  Orleans  that  Port  Hudson  was  fortified  and 
manned  by  almost  as  large  a  force  as  he  could  bring  against 
it,  or  that  fifty  miles  west  of  New  Orleans  was  a  force  of 
five  or  six  thousand  men  ready  to  move  on  the  city  and  cut 
his  lines  of  communication  the  moment  he  moved  up  the 
river.  In  addition  to  this  he  was  furnished  with  transpor 
tation  for  only  one  division  of  his  army  and  instructions 
from  General  Grant.  There  was  only  one  thing  that  could  be 
done  and  that  was  to  destroy  the  Confederate  Army  west  of 
the  Mississippi ;  before  he  could,  with  safety,  leave  New  Or 
leans  in  the  rear,  and  advance  on  Port  Hudson.  Therefore, 
concentrating  his  army  at  Donaldsonville,  we  marched 
across  the  country  to  Burwick's  Bay  and  followed  up  the 
Bayou  Teche  to  Alexandra,  on  the  Red  River,  to  the  Missis 
sippi.  W'e  advanced  upon  Port  Hudson  from  the  north. 

On  the  15th  of  January,  1863,  our  regiments  at  New 
Orleans  were  sent  up  the  river.  We  went  on  board  a  little 
steamer,  called  the  Laurel  Hill  at  about  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening.  We  arrived  in  Baton  Rouge  about  one  o'clock  on 
the  sixteenth  of  January  and  had  our  tents  pitched  before 
night.  We  were  brigaded  with  the  Thirteenth  Connecticut, 
the  Twenty-sixth  Maine  and  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty- 
ninth  New  York,  under  Colonel  H.  W.  Birge  as  brigade 
commander.  These  regiments  formed  the  Third  Brigade 
of  the  Fourth  Division  of  the  Nineteenth  Army  Corps,  Gen 
eral  Grover  division  commander. 

January  25th.  We  were  now  in  the  presence  of  the 
enemy  and  the  position  assigned  to  the  Twenty-fifth  was 
on  the  extreme  left  in  advance  and  we  were  getting  our 
first  taste  of  active  service. 

January  26th.  Our  camp  was  about  half  a  mile  from 
the  town,  just  on  the  edge  of  a  dense  forest  and  cypress 
swamp.  Last  night  I  went  out  on  picket  duty  for  the  first 
time  in  Baton  Rouge.  General  Payne  warned  us  that  we 


17 

must  look  out  for  the  enemy.  In  the  afternoon  the  officer 
of  the  day  came  running  his  horse  out  where  we  were  on 
picket  and  ordered  us  to  stand  by  our  arms  for  there  was 
danger  of  an  attack.  Toward  night  we  had  a  man  badly 
wounded  and  he  was  sent  to  the  hospital.  During  the 
night  there  was  a  great  deal  of  firing  upon  the  out-posts. 
We  certainly  thought  there  was  going  to  be  an  attack  and 
half  the  camp  was  up  all  night. 

January  27th.  I  came  in  from  picket  in  the  morning. 
We  were  relieved  by  the  Twenty-sixth  Maine.  We  fired 
off  our  rifles  at  a  target  and  started  for  camp.  We  thought 
sometimes  that  Louisiana  was  a  very  "quare  country,"  as 
the  Irish  man  said  when  he  got  lost  in  the  woods,  and  ran 
up  against  an  owl  in  a  tree,  and  thought  it  was  a  man  calling 
to  him.  The  woods  were  plentifully  stocked  with  game 
and  we  could  hear  most  every  sound  from  the  hooting  of 
the  owls,  growling  of  wild  hogs,  to  the  snarl  of  the  wild-cat 
and  cry  of  the  opossum.  It  was  also  a  strange  sight  to  see 
the  limbs  festooned  from  tree  to  tree.  Some  of  them  were 
gigantic.  The  trees  were  covered  with  moss  or  vines  that 
encircled  them.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  we  gathered  this 
moss  for  bedding.  I  wonder  it  didn't  kill  the  whole  lot  of 
us,  but  I  think  the  country  agreed  with  me,  for  I  could  sleep 
right  on  the  ground  under  the  magnolia  trees  with  nothing 
but  a  log  for  a  pillow,  while  some  of  our  sentry  kept  watch. 

[January  28,  1913.  It  is  with  great  sorrow  that  I  sit  down  to  re 
sume  this  narrative  of  my  army  life,  for  since  my  last  writing  I  have 
lost  a  dear  son  by  death.  He  died  on  the  morning  of  January  1th, 
after  a  long  and  painful  illness  of  seventeen  weeks,  and  was  laid  to 
rest  in  Grove  Hill  cemetery  on  the  afternoon  of  January  9th.  Strange 
that  this  affliction  should  come  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  my  hard 
ships  in  the  Civil  War,  but  I  thought  that  I  couldn't  proceed  until  I  had 
made  mention  of  this  sad  trial.'] 

And  now  I  must  resume  my  story  as  best  I  can.  For 
some  weeks  we  had  been  very  busy  doing  picket  and  guard 
duty,  and  acquiring  the  use  of  fire-arms.  Everything 
seemed  peaceful  and  quiet,  but  it  was  fearfully  cold.  It 
was  very  singular  weather.  Following  every  rain-storm  it 


18 

cleared  intensely  cold  for  several  days ;  then  it  became  very 
hot  again ;  next  we  had  another  storm  to  subdue  the  intense 
heat.  I  don't  think  these  sudden  changes  agreed  with  the 
men  for  we  had  a  large  number  on  the  sick  list.  Our 
ranks  were  very  much  reduced  by  sickness.  Some  of  the 
companies  dwindled  down  to  about  half  their  original  num 
ber.  The  result  was  we  had  to  work  very  hard;  every  day 
we  had  to  have  a  large  number  for  picket  and  guard  duty. 
It  was  a  comical  sight  to  see  the  men  going  out  on  picket. 
First  we  had  our  overcoats  and  fixings,  then  our  cartridge 
box  and  belt,  then  in  a  sling  a  good  sized  blanket  and  a 
rubber  blanket,  then  the  haversack  with  a  day's  rations  and 
lastly  the  coffee  cup  and  canteen.  The  boys  got  up  some 
fine  dishes,  although  we  hardly  knew  how  to  name  some  of 
them,  but  they  were  fine.  I  managed  to  get  hold  of  some 
fish  and  made  a  delicious  fry.  Soaked  it  over  night  with 
some  hard  tack  and  the  next  morning  threw  the  pieces  into 
a  frying  pan  (that  our  company  had  confiscated)  along  with 
a  little  salt  pork;  to  this  I  added  a  little  concentrated  milk 
that  I  happened  to  have ;  next  toasted  some  bread  and 
poured  the  whole  over  it ;  why  it  was  a  dish  fit  for  anybody. 
We  were  glad  to  be  able  to  get  some  soft  bread ;  at  first  we 
couldn't  get  anything  but  hard  tack  and  very  little  of  that. 
Fresh  meat  we  hadn't  tasted  since  we  landed  till  one  day, 
when  out  on  picket,  one  of  our  boys  caught  a  pig  and  we 
forthwith  skinned  and  roasted  it.  You  can  imagine  that 
that  pig  tasted  pretty  good  after  going  without  meat  for 
over  a  month.  The  next  day  when  we  were  out  on  picket, 
a  contraband  brought  us  some  fresh  eggs  and  sweet  pota 
toes,  but  such  instances  were  not  very  common.  Why  I 
became  a  nine-days'  wonder  on  returning  to  camp  and  re 
lating  my  experience.  We  managed  to  get  some  fun  out 
of  camp  life,  and  my  health  was  good  (about  this  time  I 
was  flourishing  like  the  owl  of  the  desert  and  the  pelican 
of  the  wilderness.)  One  thing  we  missed  was  books.  The 
only  books  we  had  were  our  Testaments  which  I  enjoyed 
reading  very  much,  for  I  meant  to  read  some  of  it  every 


19 

day.  The  Testament  I  had  was  presented  to  me,  about  the 
time  we  left  Hartford  for  the  seat  of  war,  by  a  Vernon  lady, 
and  I  have  it  in  my  possession  yet.  I  prize  it  still  as  a 
great  treasure. 

February  22d,  Sunday,  Washington's  Birthday. 
Had  inspection  in  the  forenoon  and  in  afternoon  we  had  a 
sermon  preached  to  us  by  our  chaplain,  Mr.  Oviate,  whom 
some  might  remember  when  he  preached  in  Somers,  Con 
necticut. 

February  23rd.  I  was  detailed  to  go  on  guard  duty 
this  morning  for  24  hours.  The  day  was  celebrated  as 
Washington's  Birthday  and  the  boys  had  a  ball  game.  At 
sunset  we  had  a  dress  parade  and  brigade  review.  Most 
of  the  boys  were  getting  pretty  short  of  money,  and  if  we 
sent  any  letters  home  we  had  to  have  them  franked  as  sol 
diers'  letters.  This  means  that  soldiers'  letters  can  be 
sent  without  a  stamp. 

February  24th.  Came  off  guard  this  morning;  had 
the  forenoon  to  myself;  in  the  afternoon  we  had  a  brigade 
drill  under  General  Birge  in  the  unpleasant  duty  of  reversed 
arms  and  rest,  a  duty  which  we  were  called  upon  to  per 
form  quite  often  those  days. 

February  25th.  I  went  to  the  hospital  with  Sergeant 
Sam  Harding  of  our  company.  It  was  a  sickening  sight 
to  go  over  the  hospital  and  see  the  thin  and  wasted  suffer 
ers,  many  of  them  stretched  on  the  floor  with  only  a 
blanket  and  scarce  a  comfort,  let  alone  a  luxury  of  any 
kind;  many  of  them  stricken  down  in  their  strength  by 
swamp  fever;  and  one  by  one  they  dropped  off.  They  had 
not  even  seen  the  enemy.  Poor  fellows ! 

February  26th.  It  was  a  very  rainy  day  and  we  stayed 
in  our  tents  and  cleaned  our  muskets.  Mortar  and  gun 
boats  are  daily  arriving  at  this  port.  We  have  six  of  the 
former  and  four  or  five  of  the  latter.  The  Confederate 
gunboats  are  continually  making  reconnoissance  up  the 
river  and  occasionally  give  Port  Hudson  a  taste  of  their 
shells.  But  most  of  them  give  her  a  wide  berth  and  I 


20 

think  they  had  better.  By  the  way  I  want  to  tell  you  how 
hard  it  was  for  us  poor  boys  to  get  reading  matter.  When 
the  New  York  papers  arrived  they  commanded  25  and  30 
cents  apiece.  You  can  see  that  we  fellows  had  to  go 
without,  for  we  had  not  received  a  cent  of  pay  since  arriv 
ing  here.  You  can't  imagine  what  it  is  to  be  cut  off  from 
all  communication  from  the  outer  world  for  a  week  or  ten 
days  at  a  time  as  we  were  and  during  that  interval  hear 
nothing  but  discouraging  rumors  and  false  reports  circulat 
ed  by  the  Rebels. 

February  27th.  Came  off  guard  in  a  soaking  rain,  in 
a  very  cross  state  of  mind,  but  being  neither  sugar  nor  salt 
didn't  melt  away;  but  I  felt  that  I  could  stand  it  awhile 
longer  if  our  hard-tack  and  salt  horse  held  out  as  well  as 
it  had  and  I  felt  it  would,  for  I  noticed  that  it  stood  by 
pretty  well. 

Having  a  prisoner  consigned  to  my  tender  mercy  to  be 
fed  on  the  bread  of  affliction  and  waters  of  repentance  un 
til  further  orders,  this  same  prisoner  did  at  dead  hour  of 
night  break  from  the  guard-house  and  abscond  to  his  quar 
ters,  did  there  fare  sumptuously  on  hard-tack  and  salt- 
horse.  This  coming  to  the  ears  of  the  colonel  he  did  get 
angry  with  the  officer  of  the  guard  and  sending  this  same 
officer  of  the  guard  a  pair  of  hand-cuffs,  did  order  to  arrest 
this  delinquent  and  confine  him  in  close  quarters  and  in 
this  performance  a  spirited  encounter  did  thereupon  take 
place  in  which  the  offender  did  get  upset  in  one  corner  and 
the  officer  very  nearly  in  the  other;  this  criminal  being 
finally  secured  did  create  such  a  row  he  was  forced  to  be 
gagged  and  bound  hand  and  foot. 

That  the  weather  hath  proved  very  unpleasant  for 
some  time  raining  hard  most  of  the  time  when  your  humble 
servant  did  hope  to  go  round  and  view  the  pretty  maidens 
of  Baton  Rouge  and  now  that  our  three  commissioned 
officers  not  knowing  better  than  to  all  fall  sick  at  once  and 
go  to  the  hospital,  it  bringeth  us  many  cares  when  we  had 
to  have  Lieutenant  Goodell  of  Company  F  detailed  to  take 


31 

command  of  our  company  and  that  the  paymaster,  (that 
much  desired  individual),  hath  again  disappointed  us  and 
we  are  here  as  usual  without  a  cent  to  buy  anything  for 
our  comfort  or  luxury  of  any  kind. 

March  7th.  However,  this  camp  life  was  not  to  last. 
Admiral  Farragut  wished  to  run  his  fleet  past  the  batteries 
of  Port  Hudson  so  that  we  might  intercept  the  Red  River 
traffic  and  cooperate  with  General  Grant  at  Vicksburg. 
Therefore  he  asked  General  Banks  to  make  a  demonstra 
tion  behind  the  fortress.  This  movement  was  intended  to 
divert  the  attention  of  the  enemy.  General  Banks  at  once 
put  his  army  in  motion,  and  our  army,  with  a  squadron  of 
cavalry  and  a  battery  of  regular  artillery  men,  commenced 
the  advance. 

March  9th.  Had  marching  orders  this  morning  and 
struck  our  tents  about  seven  o'clock.  And  we  have  been 
here  all  day  waiting  for  orders  to  start. 

March  10th.  We  had  marching  orders  this  morning 
and  left  camp  about  five  o'clock ;  when  we  got  outside  the 
picket  lines,  our  regiment  was  detailed  to  do  skirmish  duty 
and  we  immediately  deployed  on  both  sides  of  the  road  and 
into  the  woods,  when  we  came  to  the  remnants  of  a  bridge 
that  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Confederates.  W'e  halted 
here  and  our  regiment  was  sent  out  on  picket  duty  for  the 
night. 

March  llth.  This  morning  we  had  a  sharp  skirmish 
with  the  enemy.  One  man  was  killed  in  Company  I.  His 
name  was  Rockwell. 

March  12th.  Last  night  one-half  of  our  regiment 
stood  by  our  arms  for  fear  of  an  attack.  Sergeant  Benja 
min  Turner  and  myself  were  up  together  on  the  same  post. 
Our  army  at  this  time  was  within  cannon  shot  of  the  Con 
federate  works,  but  they  could  not  get  their  guns  up  in 
time  to  be  of  any  service.  We  were  witnesses  of  a  terrible 
scene,  at  1 :20  A.  M.  Two  rockets  burst  into  the  air  and  in 
an  instant  all  the  guns  of  the  fortress  lit  up  the  darkness 
with  the  flash  of  their  firing.  The  fleet  replied  and  until 


22 

half  past  one,  the  roar  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  guns  was  in 
cessant.  To  add  terror  to  the  awful  scene,  the  U.  S. 
Frigate  Mississippi,  which  had  grounded,  was  set  on  fire 
to  save  her  from  capture.  She  was  soon  wrapped  in  flames 
and  lighted  up  the  sky  for  miles  around.  This  good  old 
gunboat  which  had  been  in  so  many  battles  went  up  with  a 
terrific  explosion.  This  desperate  enterprise  consisted  of 
four  ships,  and  three  gunboats,  the  latter  being  lashed  to  the 
port  side  of  the  ships.  But  only  the  Hartford,  which  flew 
the  Admiral's  dauntless  blue,  and  her  consort,  the  little 
Albatross,  succeeded  in  running  past  the  batteries.  The 
other  ships  were  disabled  by  the  enemy's  fire  and  dropped 
down  stream.  The  Mississippi,  which  had  no  consort, 
grounded  and  to  save  the  lives  of  her  men  was  abandoned 
and  fired. 

March  15th.  We  started  at  two  o'clock  on  our  return 
march  for  Baton  Rouge.  When  we  had  been  on  our  way 
a  short  time,  a  hard  thunder  shower  came  up,  and  it  rained 
hard  until  we  halted  for  camp  about  eight  miles  from  Baton 
Rouge.  It  was  a  wet,  muddy  place,  and  we  named  it 
Camp  Misery.  It  was  very  dark  and  it  continued  to  rain 
at  times  during  all  that  long  dreary  night.  Our  quarter 
master,  John  Ives,  furnished  us  with  coffee  which  he 
brought  from  Baton  Rouge.  I  think  that  we  must  have 
had  it  about  every  hour  during  the  night. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  speaking  right  here  of  our  first 
surgeon,  Dr.  Alden  Skinner,  who  went  out  with  the  Twen 
ty-fifth  Regiment.  For  it  was  at  Camp  Misery  that  Dr. 
Alden  Skinner,  father  of  Town  Clerk  Francis  B.  Skinner, 
contracted  a  cold  that  developed  into  pneumonia  and  re 
sulted  in  his  death  a  short  time  later.  Dr.  Skinner,  after 
whom  the  Rockville  Sons  of  Veterans  named  their  camp, 
was  a  highly  respected  Rockville  physician,  who  went  with 
us  down  into  that  Rebel  stronghold  in  1862,  as  many  in 
town  will  remember.  He  was  a  man  of  many  noble  quali 
ties.  I  knew  him  personally,  for  I  had  lived  with  him 
one  winter  when  I  attended  school  in  Rockville.  I  felt  it 


DR.  ALDEN  B.  SKINNER 
Deceased 

1st    Surgeon    25th    Regiment,    Connecticut    Volunteers,    who 
enlisted  at  the  age  of  62. 


23 

a  great  personal  loss,  as  well  as  a  loss  to  the  regiment 
when  he  died.  I  desire  to  express  myself  at  some  length 
relative  to  this  good  man  who  gave  his  life  for  our  coun 
try's  cause  fifty  years  ago  about  March  30th,  1863.  He 
was  very  kind  to  me  when  we  were  encamped  at  Baton 
Rouge  and  especially  when  that  thunder  shower  came  up, 
as  we  were  marching  back  from  our  first  advance  on  Port 
Hudson.  This  experience  was  on  Sunday,  March  15,  1863. 
Dr.  Skinner  was  on  horseback  and  I  can  see  him  now  in 
memory,  as  he  was  in  that  drenching  rain,  wet  to  the  skin, 
as  all  were.  That  was  the  last  time  I  ever  saw  Dr.  Skin 
ner,  for  he  died  a  few  days  after  in  the  hospital  at  Baton 
Rouge.  He  was  brought  home  and  was  laid  to  rest  in  our 
beautiful  Grove  Hill  Cemetery. 

March  16th.  It  cleared  off  very  pleasant  this  morning. 
Had  breakfast  of  hard-tack  and  coffee.  We  had  orders  to 
march,  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  We  marched 
about  ten  miles  and  went  into  camp  on  the  bank  of  the 
Mississippi  River.  We  managed  to  get  some  fence  rails, 
build  a  fire  and  dry  off,  I  was  so  drenched  it  took 
me  nearly  all  day  to  get  thoroughly  dry.  I  felt  much 
happier  upon  this  old  cotton  plantation,  for  it  was  about  as 
pleasant  a  place  as  I  had  seen  in  Louisiana.  We  were  sit 
uated  on  a  high  bluff  overlooking  the  Mississippi  River, 
which  spread  out  before  us  like  a  broad  lake.  The  banks 
were  lined  with  live-oak,  and  back  of  us  were  dense  forests. 
Hardly  had  we  arrived  when  I  was  detailed  to  go  on  guard 
duty.  Pretty  rough  on  a  fellow  who  hadn't  slept  any  for 
about  forty-eight  hours,  but  most  of  us  were  in  the  same 
predicament.  We  were  a  pretty  sleepy  set  to  go  on  guard 
but  we  had  to  stand  it,  two  hours  on  and  four  off,  until 
morning,  when  our  cavalry  were  driven  back  upon  us 
without  loss.  At  three  o'clock,  I  was  relieved  and  lying 
down  on  the  ground  I  slept  like  a  stone  till  eight  o'clock 
when  the  new  guard  came  on.  Here  let  me  say,  that  the 
thunder  storm  we  had  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  was  very 
likely  the  means  of  saving  many  lives,  as  the  Confederates, 


when  they  found  that  we  were  retreating,  turned  out  in 
fantry,  cavalry  and  artillery  and  pressed  hard  upon  us  but 
the  rain  Providentially  deterred  them.  The  Thirteenth 
and  Twenty-fifth  Connecticut  Regiments  covered  the  re 
treating  column. 

March  17th  found  us  still  in  Camp  Alden,  for  so  we 
had  named  our  new  camp  ground.  In  the  afternoon  a  half 
dozen  of  us  went  out  on  a  foraging  expedition.  We 
spotted  a  cow,  which  a  bullet  soon  laid  low.  When  we  got 
her  dressed,  we  started  for  a  sugar  plantation,  a  short  dis 
tance  away.  We  found  it  entirely  deserted  but  lots  of 
sugar  and  molasses,  as  this  had  not  been  confiscated  by  the 
United  States  government.  We  helped  ourselves  and 
managed  to  get  a  small  quantity  of  the  sweetening  ingred 
ient  up  to  camp,  where  we  received  a  warm  reception.  We 
were  all  out  of  sugar  for  our  coffee  and  also  meat  for  soup. 
That  was  about  all  the  old  cow  was  fit  for.  W(e  held  dress 
parade  at  sunset  in  marching  costume.  I  was  quite  ragged 
by  this  time,  having  torn  the  legs  nearly  off  my 
trousers,  and  my  blouse  had  been  badly  torn  while  skirmish 
ing  through  the  woods  and  cane  brakes. 

March  18th.  Spent  most  of  the  forenoon  mending  the 
holes  in  my  breeches.  In  the  afternoon  visited  the  Twelfth 
Connecticut  regiment  for  the  first  time  in  Louisiana.  Saw 
some  of  the  Hartford  boys  and  had  a  good  time  generally. 
After  dress-parade  went  out  on  a  foraging  expedition,  with 
several  others,  after  fence  rails,  as  we  had  to  have  a  fire  to 
keep  warm,  also  to  make  coffee  and  soup.  I  am  sure  the 
Rebs  had  good  reason  to  bring  "railing  accusations"  against 
us,  for  I  am  quite  certain  there  wasn't  a  rail  left  within 
several  miles  of  Baton  Rouge. 

March  19th.  There  was  an  order  for  inspection  of 
arms  this  morning.  While  waiting  I,  with  several  others, 
was  detailed  to  go  out  foraging  after  corn.  Went  out  a 
short  distance  and  got  all  that  we  could  bring  into  camp. 
We  received  marching  orders  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  even 
ing. 


25 


March  20th.  We  were  up  early  and  on  our  way  at 
four  o'clock  this  morning.  After  a  weary,  hot  march  we 
reached  our  old  camp-ground  at  Baton  Rouge  at  seven 
o'clock.  As  we  marched  past  General  Banks'  headquarters 
he  came  out  and  saluted,  while  the  bands  of  the  different 
regiments  played  and  we  marched  past  at  shoulder  arms. 
That  night  we  lay  on  the  ground  again  for  it  was  too  late 
and  the  men  were  too  tired  to  pitch  the  tents. 

March  21st.  In  the  morning  we  pitched  our  tents, 
cleaned  up  and  put  our  old  Camp  Grover  in  order  once 
more. 

March  22nd,  Sunday.  We  were  ordered  to  be  ready 
for  inspection  but  there  was  none  on  account  of  some  of 
the  rifles  being  loaded.  Toward  night  we  were  ordered  to 
be  ready  for  marching,  and  have  such  things  as  we  could 
get  along  without,  packed  in  boxes.  It  was  raining  as  we 
were  getting  ready  for  another  start.  Horace  Newbury  of 
our  company  died  last  night  and  we  laid  him  to  rest  this 
morning  under  a  beautiful  magnolia  tree. 

March  24th.  In  the  forenoon  we  worked  on  our  guns 
and  in  the  afternoon  we  had  inspection  and  dress-parade. 

March  25th.  I  was  detailed  to  go  on  picket  duty  this 
morning.  Lieutenant  Gorman  was  officer  of  the  picket. 
The  night  was  cool  and  clear  and  everything  was  quiet  all 
along  the  lines. 

March  26th.  A  beautiful  morning  with  the  birds  sing 
ing  merrily.  I  got  into  camp  about  eleven  o'clock.  We 
had  orders  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  to  be  ready  for 
marching.  It  was  very  rainy  weather  and  there  was  very 
little  done  in  camp. 

March  27th.  We  had  orders  to  march  and  all 
was  packing  and  confusion.  I  was  ordered  to  help  put  our 
tents  and  baggage  aboard  the  boat,  the  St.  Mary.  We  had 
all  our  things  aboard  this  little  craft  about  five  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon.  At  last,  after  being  over  a  week  packing  up, 
waiting  for  orders,  we  were  on  the  move.  We  left  Baton 
Rouge  at  five  o'clock  and  reached  this  place  at  nine,  (as 


26 

luck  would  have  it)  in  a  rain-storm.  Lay  on  the  ground 
under  the  trees  all  night. 

March  28th.  We  just  received  marching  orders  again. 
Where  we  were  going  to  nobody  seemed  to  know.  I  sup 
posed  our  destination  was  Brashear  City  and  Burwick  Bay, 
but  beyond  that  nothing  was  known.  Rumor  said,  Texas 
and  Red  River.  ;We  took  tents  and  all  our  baggage  and 
did  not  expect  again  to  see  Baton  Rouge. 

Sunday  morning,  March  29th.  Arrived  in  Donaldson- 
ville  about  nine  o'clock  last  evening.  Slept  on  the  ground 
all  night.  In  the  morning  had  some  hard-tack  and  coffee. 
We  received  a  mail.  I  got  several  letters,  one  was  from 
mother.  I  went  to  a  Catholic  meeting.  Donaldsonville  is 
an  exceedingly  pretty  place,  very  old-fashioned,  shingled- 
roofed  town.  A  bayou  extends  through  the  center,  some 
three  hundred  yards  wide;  it  runs  to  the  gulf  and  is  so  deep 
that  a  frigate  lies  in  it  about  a  mile  from  where  it  sets  in 
from  the  Mississippi.  The  catalpa  and  China-bell  trees 
were  in  full  blossom  and  the  pecans  were  leafing  out.  There 
was  a  Catholic  church  here  that  looked  like  a  barn  outside 
but  quite  pretty  inside,  as  I  saw  for  myself,  and  thither  the 
people  who  were  mostly  French  and  Spanish,  were  flock 
ing.  We  here  enjoyed  the  luxury  of  seeing  ladies,  in  clean 
white  petticoats,  walking  the  streets.  And  really  we  had 
to  laugh,  for  actually  those  petticoats  were  the  most  home 
like  things  we  had  seen  for  some  months.  "Billy"  Wilson's 
Zouaves,  who  were  in  our  division,  were  placed  under  ar 
rest  and  had  their  arms  taken  from  them.  They  got  very 
drunk  coming  down  on  the  boat  and  mutinied. 

March  30th.  You  can't  imagine  how  beautiful  the 
flowers  were  looking.  Cherokee  roses,  jessamines,  jon 
quils,  and  a  great  variety  of  flowers  were  in  blossom.  We 
lived  out  under  the  trees  with  the  rain  pattering  upon  us. 
We  were  greatly  bothered  with  vermin,  which  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  pick  off.  Campaigning  evidently  agreed 
with  me,  for  I  had  gained  several  pounds  since  leaving  New 
York. 


27 

April  1st.  We  were  on  the  march  very  early.  Our 
brigade  went  ahead  as  skirmishers.  We  went  through  a 
very  pleasant  country.  We  started  about  seven  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  April  2nd.  Our  company  was  guard  of  the 
baggage  train.  We  went  through  a  place  called  Thibo- 
deaux,  a  very  pretty  village.  (We  stopped  "a  right  smart 
way,"  from  Thibodeaux,  as  the  contrabands  used  to  tell  us 
when  we  inquired  the  distance  of  them.  We  were  there 
only  a  short  time,  when  we  were  crowded  on  to  some 
freight  cars  like  cattle  and  transported  to  Bayou  Boeuf, 
arriving  at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  pretty  well  fagged  out. 

We  had  some  awfully  hot  and  fatiguing  marches  and 
the  boys  were  very  foot-sore.  I  held  out  wonderfully ;  did 
not  so  much  as  raise  a  sign  of  a  blister,  though  carrying  a 
rubber  blanket,  a  heavy  overcoat,  canteen  full  of  water, 
haversack,  with  two  days'  rations  in  it, — by  no  means  a 
small  load  as  I  found  after  a  few  miles'  march.  My  nose 
and  cheeks  underwent  a  skinning  operation  on  our  Port 
Hudson  expedition  and  I  felt  quite  badly  when  I  found 
that  they  were  again  peeling. 

April  3rd.  We  have  fixed  up  our  shelter  tents,  and  I 
helped  unload  our  baggage.  The  day  was  pleasant  but 
Bayou  Boeuf  was  a  very  unpleasant  place.  A  comrade 
came  into  our  camp  from  the  Twelfth  Regiment,  C.  V.  His 
name  was  Wells  Hubbard  of  Glastonbury,  Conn. 

April  5th,  Sunday.  On  camp  guard  I  was  stationed 
in  front  of  General  Grover's  headquarters  for  the  night. 
During  the  day  we  crossed  over  the  Bayou  Lefourche  to 
the  main  part  of  the  town  and  spent  some  time  in  exploring 
it.  It  must  have  been  an  exceedingly  beautiful  place  be 
fore  the  bombardment  a  short  time  before.  Many  of  the 
houses  were  lying  in  ruins.  Then  there  was  a  very  pretty 
cemetery  embowered  in  red  and  white  roses  which  hung  in 
clusters  over  the  monuments.  I  saw  on  some  of  the  graves 
fresh  wreaths  of  roses  and  pinks  and  on  many  pictures 
were  hanging  showing  the  weeping  survivors  beneath  a 
weeping  willow.  Blue  pinks  seemed  to  be  a  favorite  flower 


and  were  planted  around  a  great  many  of  the  graves. 
There  were  some  old  tombstones  at  that  place.  On  one 
was  the  following  inscription : 

"Affliction  sore,  long  time  I  bore; 

Physicians  were  in  vain, 
Till  God  did  please,  that  death  should  come, 

And  ease  me  of  my  pain." 

Again  we  were  all  packed  up  and  on  the  move  at  about 
8  A.  M.  The  road,  in  fact  all  the  way  to  Thibodeaux, 
lay  along  the  Bayou  Lefourche,  a  clear  and  cool  stream, 
on  which  our  steamers  were  passing  bearing  the  sick 
and  baggage.  As  we  wound  along  under  the  catalpa  and 
China-ball  trees,  the  people  were  out  on  the  piazzas  watch 
ing  us;  this  seemed  to  be  their  occupation  almost  every 
where.  Such  a  slovenly  set  you  never  saw, — the  women 
with  frizzled  hair  and  slipshod  shoes.  They  were  evident 
ly  very  poor.  But,  oh,  the  fine  clover  fields  we  passed.  The 
heart  of  a  cow  would  have  leaped  with  joy  at  the  sight;  and 
it  was  just  so  all  the  way  to  Thibodeaux.  It  must  have  been 
a  splendid  farming  country.  Sugar  cane  and  cotton  fields 
were  also  looking  fine.  After  marching  about  twelve  miles 
we  encamped  at  Paincourtville,  pretty  well  tired  out.  There 
were  plenty  of  chickens,  pigs,  and  sheep  running  loose  of 
which  we  were  not  slow  to  avail  ourselves.  About  the 
last  thing  I  saw  when  I  had  lain  down  for  the  night  was  a 
porker  squealing  for  all  he  was  worth  and  charging  blindly 
among  the  camp-fires  over  bunks  and  slumbering  soldiers 
pursued  by  a  band  of  shouting  men  discharging  all  kinds 
of  deadly  missies  at  him. 

April  7th.  We  were  off  at  7  A.  M.  Still  among 
clover  fields.  On  our  march  we  passed  some  beautiful 
plantations;  one  was  especially  so.  It  was  perfectly  em 
bowered  in  trees,  had  a  smooth-cut  lawn.  There  was  a 
fountain  and  some  swans  swimming  in  the  pond  in  front  of 
the  house.  On  the  veranda  there  were  two  ladies  working 
and  some  little  children  were  playing.  It  was  the  prettiest 
sight  I  had  seen  in  Louisiana.  It  fairly  stilled  the  boys, 


29 

seeing  those  children,  and  I  heard  more  than  one  tough 
fellow  sing  out  "God  bless  them."  At  another  little  white 
cottage  we  saw  a  lady  whose  husband  had  fallen  in  the 
army.  She  sent  her  slaves  out  where  we  were  with  pails  of 
cool  water.  It  was  a  simple  act  but  we  could  not  help 
blessing  her  for  it. 

And  then  we  resumed  our  dusty  way.  The  heat  and 
dust  were  very  intense;  not  a  breath  of  air  was  stirring. 
We  marched  fourteen  miles  to  Labadieville,  and  camped 
for  the  night  on  a  sugar  plantation,  where  we  just  had 
sugar  and  molasses  to  our  hearts'  content.  Early  the  next 
morning  we  started  in  a  flood  of  moonlight  that  silvered 
the  grass  with  dew-drops.  There  is  something  very  fas 
cinating  in  camping-out ;  the  camp-fires  far  and  wide,  the 
hum  and  bustle  everywhere.  It  makes  one  forget  his 
troubles. 

April  9th.  We  had  marching  orders  this  morning. 
We  marched  as  far  as  Brashear  City,  and  camped  for  the 
night.  It  was  the  hardest  day's  march  of  all.  The  men 
staggered  over  the  road  from  fatigue  and  sore  feet.  We 
felt  better  when  we  passed  from  the  road  into  the  clover 
field  to  lie  down.  At  6  P.  M.  came  the  order  to  fall  in  and 
we  were  ordered  on  board  the  little  steamer,  St.  Mary.  We 
stayed  there  all  night, — expecting  to  start  every  minute. 

April  llth.  Although  it  was  a  small  boat,  the  Fifty- 
second  Massachusetts,  the  Twenty-fourth  and  Twenty-fifth 
Connecticut,  and  a  battery  with  horses,  were  just  packed 
on  board.  Just  imagine  how  we  must  have  been  crowded 
together. 

April  12th.  We  steamed  out  of  the  bay  at  9  o'clock, 
the  Clifton  flagship  ahead,  then  the  Calhoun,  Arizona, 
Laurel  Hill,  and  St.  Mary,  also  several  tugs.  We  were 
now  under  convoy  of  these  gunboats;  they  were  to  pilot 
us  up  through  the  chain  of  lakes  from  Burwick  Bay  into 
Grand  Lake,  where  we  arrived  about  12  o'clock.  It  was 
an  extremely  hot  day  for  so  many  to  be  crowded  together, 
and  we  slept  but  little. 

April  13th.     We  went  ashore  at  one  o'clock.       There 


30 

was  some  firing  on  our  picket  line  at  night.  I  was  detailed 
to  go  back  to  the  lake  and  help  bring  up  some  rations  where 
our  forces  were  stationed.  There  was  a  heavy  thunder 
shower  and  we  slept  but  little  all  night. 

I  want  to  say  here  that  we  landed  our  forces,  after 
sending  out  a  party  to  reconnoitre  under  cover  of  the  Cal- 
houn,  which  shelled  the  woods  while  we  came  ashore. 
Our  object  was  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  Confederates 
while  Emory's  and  Sherman's  division  crossed  Burwick 
Bay  to  attack  them. 

April  14th.  On  this  date  came  the  hard-fought  battle 
of  Irish  Bend.  We  started  out  at  daylight  as  skirmishers 
without  any  breakfast.  When  we  had  gone  about  a  mile, 
brisk  firing  commenced  on  both  sides.  We  advanced  very 
fast,  loading  and  firing  as  we  went.  When  we  had  ad 
vanced  very  near  the  Rebel  batteries  and  supposed  that 
everything  was  going  well,  we  were  flanked  by  the  enemy. 
We  were  immediately  ordered  to  fall  back  a  short  distance. 
The  Thirteenth  Connecticut  took  our  places  soon  in  solid 
column,  when  the  tune  changed  and  the  Confederates  re 
treated  into  the  woods,  whence  they  came.  When  our 
brigade  got  together  and  formed  in  line  of  battle,  we  were 
again  ordered  to  the  front,  where  the  Rebels  sent  shells  into 
our  ranks  from  their  gunboat  Diana.  Thex.  burned  her 
about  two  o'clock  and  retreated. 

April  15th.  This  morning  I  thought  I  must  write  a 
little  in  my  diary.  I  think  it  was  through  the  mercy  of 
God  that  my  life  was  spared  through  the  previous  day's 
fight.  It  seemed  a  miracle  that  one  came  out  alive.  I  felt 
very  thankful  that  I  was  able  to  come  out  of  the  Battle  of 
Irish  Bend  without  a  scratch,  after  hearing  the  horrible  re 
sults.  Our  regiment  suffered  severely.  For  about  two 
hours  we  were  under  a  hot  fire  entirely  unsupported.  We 
went  into  the  fight  with  380  men  and  lost  83  killed  and 
wounded  and  14  missing.  Our  third  brigade  was  about 
the  only  one  engaged  and  we  lost  in  that  short  space  of 
time  over  300  men  killed,  wounded  and  missing.  Colonel 
Birge  had  his  horse  shot  from  under  him.  We  had  two 


31 


officers  killed  and  four  wounded.  It  seems  almost  a  mir 
acle,  when  I  think  of  it  at  this  time,  that  so  many  escaped 
without  a  mark.  We  started  on  the  march  on  the  morning 
of  April  15,  about  nine  o'clock  pursuing  the  Rebels  very 
closely  through  the  day.  It  was  a  fine  rich  country  that  we 
passed  through;  the  cane  and  cotton  fields  were  looking 
finely.  We  went  into  camp  at  night  near  a  sugar  mill  that 
had  a  quantity  of  sugar  in  it,  to  which  we  helped  our 
selves.  There  was  considerable  firing  through  the  day. 

A  more  detailed  account  of  the  Battle  of  Irish  Bend  is 
here  given  by  Major  Thomas  McManus  of  the  Twenty- 
fifth. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  IRISH  BEND. 

Interesting  Reminiscences  of  Terrible  Conflict  Between 

States. 

Horrors  of  War  Graphically  Told  by  General  Thomas 
McManus,  Who  Was  Major  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Regi 
ment,  Connecticut  Volunteers. 

By  request  of  Major  Thomas  McManus  I  will  give  a 
brief  account  of  the  country  of  lower  Louisiana  and  the 
battle  of  Irish  Bend,  as  given  by  him  in  an  address  at  St. 
Patrick's  Church,  Collinsville,  April  23,  1893,  and  published 
in  the  Hartford  Post  of  the  date  of  April  14,  1913,  being 
fifty  years  to  a  day  after  that  terrible  conflict : 

Lower  Louisiana  is  a  marshy,  swampy  level  stretch  oi 
country  with  an  imperceptible  coast  line.  No  one  can  tell 
where  the  solid  ground  ends  or  where  the  sea  begins.  Ap 
proaching  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  you  find  your  ship  in 
muddy  waters,  and  by  and  by  you  see  here  and  there  a 
speck  of  mud  itself,  emerging  above  the  surface,  and  barely 
large  enough  to  be  noticed,  and  after  a  while  these  small 
islands  grow  together  and  you  begin  to  realize  that  there 
are  distinctly  defined  banks  each  side  of  the  broad  muddy 


32 

channel  through  which  you  are  sailing,  intersected  here  and 
there  by  other  channels  extending  in  every  direction. 
Twenty  miles  perhaps  from  the  place  where  you  first  per 
ceived  indications  of  real  mud,  the  land  will  be  firm  enough 
to  sustain  a  few  piles  supporting  a  fisherman's  cabin  or 
pilot's  hut.  Ten  miles  further  on  and  you  may  see  signs 
of  life  and  cultivation.  The  river  banks  have  risen  to  a 
height  of  two  or  three  feet  above  the  level  of  the  water. 
The  whole  southwestern  part  of  the  state  is  a  network  of 
bayous  or  natural  canals,  usually  narrow  and  always  deep. 
In  summer  they  are  mere  channels  of  drainage,  but  in 
spring  they  are  full  to  the  top  and  often  overflowing  thus 
making  a  system  of  natural  waterways  that  reach  within  a 
mile  or  two  of  every  plantation  with  currents  strong  enough 
to  carry  the  flat  boats  laden  with  sugar,  cotton  and  corn  to 
New  Orleans,  Brashear  or  the  ports  on  the  coast.  Here 
and  there  the  yet  unfilled  depressions  in  the  soil  form  large 
but  shallow  lakes,  that  in  the  dry  season  are  mere  marshes. 
This  was  the  region  where  it  was  fated  that  the  Twen 
ty-fifth  Connecticut  regiment  should  make  its  spirng  cam 
paign  in  1863.  Early  in  December  we  had  taken  possession  of 
Baton  Rouge  on  the  Mississippi  and  had  employed  our 
time  in  practically  learning  the  art  of  war,  and  we  prided 
ourselves  on  our  proficiency  in  drill  and  discipline.  The 
winter  had  been,  to  us  who  were  accustomed  to  our  rigor 
ous  climate  here,  very  mild,  but  we  had  begun  to  feel  as 
early  as  the  end  of  March,  a  foretaste  of  that  terrible  ener 
vation  that  the  coming  summer  was  to  bring  to  our  men 
habituated  to  our  bracing  air  of  Connecticut.  We  were 
somewhat  hardened  to  the  little  outdoor  inconveniences  of 
Louisiana.  We  didn't  mind  the  mosquitoes,  although  they 
were  ten  times  as  big — a  hundred  times  as  hungry  and  a 
thousand  times  as  vicious  as  those  we  raise  here.  We 
didn't  mind  the  wood-ticks,  and  although  we  preferred  not 
to  have  moccasin  snakes  in  our  tents,  they  would  come 
sometimes.  We  had  made  a  movement  on  Port  Hudson 
early  in  March  and  the  Twenty-fifth  was  in  the  lead,  seven 


MAJOR  THOMAS  M'MANUS 
Hartford,  Conn. 

Major  of  25th  Regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers. 


33 


miles  in  advance  of  the  main  army.  We  had  built  a  bridge 
over  the  Bayou  Montecino,  and  had  lain  on  our  arms  all 
night  awaiting  orders  to  attack  Port  Hudson,  when  Farra- 
gut's  fleet  attempted  to  pass  the  batteries.  Only  two  of  his 
ships,  the  Hartford  and  Albatross,  succeeded,  while  the 
Richmond  was  disabled  and  the  Mississippi  was  destroyed. 
We  had  engaged  in  a  night  skirmish  with  the  enemy  at 
Montecino,  and  had  lost  one  man  in  that  affair.  We  had 
retired  from  Port  Hudson  as  rear  guard  to  the  column. 
Ours  was  the  post  of  danger  every  time,  and  we  had  en 
countered  the  worst  storm  and  waded  through  the  deepest 
mud  to  be  found  on  the  continent  and  had  bivouacked  in  a 
field  almost  as  dry  as  the  bottom  of  Lake  Ontario. 

With  these  experiences  we  felt  like  veterans,  but  we 
didn't  then  know  how  much  we  had  to  learn.  On  March 
31,  our  regiment  was  transported  to  Donaldsonville,  fifty 
miles  below  Baton  Rouge,  from  there  we  marched  beside 
Bayou  Lefourche  to  Thibodeaux  and  then  took  the  cars  for 
Bayou  Boeuf,  and  after  a  few  days'  halt,  marched  over  to 
Brashear.  We  knew  that  something  was  going  to  be  done, 
but  didn't  know  what.  We  knew  that  somebody  was  going 
to  be  hurt,  but  didn't  know  who.  We  knew  that  some 
folks  were  going  to  get  badly  whipped,  but  it  wasn't  us. 
We  were  certain  of  that.  Our  superior  officer  and  officers 
couldn't  tell  us  anything  or  wouldn't  tell  us  anything,  and 
I  have  since  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  very 
much  like  some  of  the  wire  pulling  politicians  of  the  pres 
ent  day.  They  didn't  (know  themselves.  It  may  be  wis 
dom  sometimes  in  war  and  in  politics,  not  to  let  your  fol 
lowers  know  just  what  you  intend  to  make  them  do,  but 
it's  mighty  poor  policy  to  let  your  enemy  know  it  first. 

On  Saturday,  April  11,  1863,  the  Twenty-fifth  Connec 
ticut,  less  than  500  strong,  embarked  on  the  steamer  St. 
Mary,  a  New  York  and  Galveston  liner  built  to  carry  500 
passengers  at  a  pinch,  but  loaded  on  this  occasion  with 
2,500. 

We  were  crowded.     We  were  just  packed  as  close  as 


34 

the  squares  of  hardtack  in  the  bread  barrels,  closer  than 
sardines  in  a  box.  So  close  that  we  didn't  have  room  to 
sweat.  We  had  to  hold  our  haversacks  that  contained 
three  days'  rations  of  sheet  iron  biscuit  and  salt  pork,  on 
our  heads.  The  decks  were  covered  with  a  solid  mass  of 
humanity.  We  cast  off  the  lines  and  our  ship  slowly 
steamed  up  the  Atchafalaya,  now  and  then  rubbing  the 
banks  so  closely  that  we  could  grasp  the  branches  of  the 
magnolia  and  cypress  that  formed  one  green,  unbroken 
fringe  on  either  side. 

General  Emory's  division  of  Banks'  army  had  already 
moved  up  the  west  bank  of  the  Bayou  Teche,  fighting  its 
way  against  the  fresh  active  troops  of  Dick  Taylor.  W'e 
were  in  General  Cuvier  Grover's  division,  and  were  expect 
ed  to  sail  up  Grand  Lake  and  disembark  at  Hutchins  Land 
ing,  where  the  Teche,  by  a  sharp  bend,  comes  within  two 
miles  of  the  lake;  and  on  this  narrow  strip  was  the  only 
road  (as  we  supposed)  over  which  an  army  and  especially 
artillery  and  baggage  wragons  could  pass.  During  Satur 
day  night,  Sunday,  and  Sunday  night  we  were 
crammed,  stifled  and  suffocated  on  the  steamer's 
deck,  as  she  slowly  felt  her  way  up  through  the 
muddy  and  shallow  water  of  Grand  Lake.  To 
have  run  aground  would  have  been  disastrous  failure  to  the 
whole  expedition.  Towing  astern  were  large  flat  bottomed 
scows,  loaded  with  artillery  and  artillery  men.  These 
were  indispensable  when  on  Monday  morning  we  found 
that  it  was  impossible  for  our  ship  to  approach  within  half 
a  mile  of  the  shore,  and  the  men  were  ferried  from  the 
steamer  to  the  bank,  where  a  lively  little  skirmish  was  go 
ing  on  between  some  Confederate  scouts  and  Col.  Dick  Hoi- 
comb's  First  Louisiana.  General  Grover  was  ahead  of  us, 
smoking  as  usual,  and  in  his  excitement  he  had  lighted  a 
second  cigar  and  was  vigorously  puffing  and  pulling  at  both 
corners  of  his  mouth.  He  grasped  Colonel  Bissell  by  the 
hands  in  welcome,  as  the  colonel  leaped  from  the  boat.  No 
delay  now,  forward !  A  few  hundred  yards  brought  us  to  the 


35 


woods.  Our  skirmishers  went  through  and  we  soon  had 
orders  to  follow.  We  halted  at  the  open  clearing  on  the 
other  side  and  awaited  to  hear  from  General  Grover,  who 
had  gone  ahead  to  reconnoitre.  Off  to  the  southwest  we 
could  hear  the  artillery  firing  that  told  us  that  Emory's 
forces  were  having  a  fierce  fight  with  Taylor's,  only  a  few 
miles  away.  Another  half  mile  advance,  another  halt  and 
again  forward.  Just  as  the  sun  was  going  down  we 
crossed  the  Teche  over  a  drawbridge  and  filed  into  the 
main  road  and  skirted  the  fertile  plantation  of  Madame 
Porter.  This  stately,  handsome  lady,  surrounded  by  scores 
of  fat,  happy  looking  and  well  clad  slaves,  stood  in  front  of 
her  elegant  home  and  sadly  watched  us  as  we  passed.  No 
farm  in  Connecticut,  however  carefully  supervised,  could 
show  better  evidences  of  wise  management  than  this.  The 
houses,  fences,  granaries,  fields,  slave  quarters  and  every 
thing,  were  in  perfect  order — all  were  clean,  whole,  and 
systematically  arranged.  The  fertile  soil  seemed  to  pro 
claim  audibly  to  our  farmer  boys  its  readiness  to  give  back 
a  hundred  and  fifty  fold  for  its  seed  and  care.  The  shades 
of  night  were  falling  fast  when  we  filed  into  an  open 
ploughed  field  and  moved  by  the  right  of  companies  to  the 
rear  into  columns.  We  halted,  stacked  arms,  ate  hardtack 
and  raw  pork,  and  rested.  The  ground  was  soft  alluvial; 
mist  came  with  sundown  and  rain  came  with  the  darkness, 
and  the  surface  of  the  earth  was  soon  transformed  into 
soft,  deep  mud.  There  was  no  noise,  no  music,  no  laugh 
ter.  Every  man  knew  instinctively  that  the  morrow's  sun 
would  shine  upon  many  a  corpse.  Our  generals  had  be 
lieved,  and  we  had  hoped,  that  as  soon  as  Taylor  would 
find  this  large  force  of  ours  suddenly  occupying  the  road 
in  his  rear,  he  would  submit  to  the  inevitable  and  sur 
render,  but  he  had  not  surrendered  and  would  not  sur 
render,  and  that  meant  a  fierce  engagement  for  us.  As 
soon  as  darkness  had  set  in,  General  Grover  sent  up  rockets 
to  apprise  General  Banks  of  our  position.  Sleep  was  im 
possible.  Colonel  Bissell  and  I  sat  on  a  bread  box,  back  to 


36 

back,  our  feet  in  the  soft  mud  and  our  clothing  gradually 
absorbing  the  rain  that  fell  steadily  upon  us.  The  hours 
dragged  slowly  along,  and  before  daybreak  our  men  were 
aroused,  made  a  hasty  breakfast,  and  in  the  grey  of  the 
morning  we  set  out  in  advance  of  our  brigade  that  consist 
ed  of  the  Thirteenth  and  Twenty-fifth  Connecticut,  Twen 
ty-sixth  Maine  and  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-ninth  New 
York,  Colonel  Birge  in  command.  We  were  all  on  foot, 
officers  and  men  alike.  Our  horses,  baggage,  and  impedi 
ments  had  been  left  at  Brashear  to  follow  the  column  of 
General  Emory. 

For  a  mile  below  Madame  Porter's  plantation  the 
Bayou  Teche  runs  to  the  southeast  and  then  turns  sharply 
to  the  southwest  towards  Framklin,  a  very  pretty  village, 
some  five  miles  below.  The  road  following  the  sinuosities 
of  the  stream  runs  parallel  to  it,  with  a  strip  of  a  few  rods 
in  width  between.  We  enter  an  immense  cane  field,  its 
furrows  in  line  with  the  road.  On  the  west  the  field  was 
bounded  by  a  rail  fence,  beyond  which  arose  a  dense  wood 
of  magnolias,  cotton  wood  and  semi-tropical  trees  looking 
like  a  long  green  wall.  Far  in  front  arose  a  transverse  wall 
like  to  the  first,  and  making  at  its  intersection  a  right  angle. 
At  this  angle,  the  road  entered  the  wood,  near  to  the  ground 
this  forest  was  absolutely  impenetrable  to  the  sight,  by 
reason  of  the  suffocating  growth  of  briars,  vines,  palmettos 
and  underbrush.  We  ought  to  have  occupied  these  woods 
the  night  before,  and  have  hemmed  the  enemy  in  the  open 
beyond.  We  now  knew  that  the  foe  was  in  our  immediate 
front.  We  marched  down  the  field,  the  right  wing  deploy 
ed  as  skirmishers,  the  left  wing  in  close  battalion  front  fol 
lowing  a  few  rods  in  its  rear.  By  and  by  a  puff  of  smoke 
from  the  green  wall  in  front  of  us  and  a  second  or  two  af 
terwards  the  crack  of  a  rifle.  The  fight  had  begun ;  another 
puff,  another  crack  then  more  and  more,  multiplying  as  we 
approached.  The  bend  in  the  road  is  now  disclosed,  the 
enemy's  skirmishers  disappeared  from  our  front  to  re-ap 
pear  in  greater  numbers  on  our  right.  Our  skirmishers 


37 

were  called  in  and  we  changed  front  forward  on  first  com 
pany,  moved  down  towards  the  wood  on  the  right,  and  halt 
ing  about  150  yards  from  the  fence,  we  poured  a  volley  in 
to  the  enemy's  ranks.  The  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-ninth 
New  York  came  down  into  line  on  our  left,  the  Twenty- 
sixth  Maine  formed  in  our  rear,  the  Thirteenth  Connecticut 
took  position  on  our  extreme  left  occupying  both  sides  of 
the  road.  The  canes  of  the  previous  year's  sugar  crop 
stood  in  the  field  and  their  volley  firing  didn't  get  our 
range,  and  our  lines  were  parallel  with  the  furrows.  The 
enemy's  shot  rattled  through  the  dry  stalks,  crackling  like 
hail  against  the  windows.  The  enemy  were  armed  with 
the  smooth  bores,  every  cartridge  charged  with  a  bullet 
and  three  buck  shot,  while  our  regiment  was  armed  with 
Enfield  rifles  and  so  the  Rebels,  man  for  man  were  giving 
us  four  shots  to  our  one  in  return. 

The  enemy  had  an  immense  advantage  in  position  and 
the  conviction  was  stealing  over  us  that  they  had  the  ad 
vantage  in  numbers  also.  Our  men  had  warmed  up  to 
their  work;  every  soldier  had  long  before  drained  the  last 
drop  from  his  canteen ;  the  sun  was  rising  high  and  hot  and 
we  learned  then  that  there  is  no  thirst  so  burning  and  ter 
rible  as  that  which  seizes  upon  the  soldier  in  battle.  Every 
command  given  by  the  Confederate  officers  was  as  dis 
tinctly  heard  by  us  as  if  given  in  our  own  companies. 
Their  lines  already  extended  far  beyond  our  flank  and  their 
oft-repeated  cheers  told  us  how  rapidly  their  ranks  were 
being  increased  by  new  arrivals.  Suddenly  a  loud  cheer 
from  the  Rebels;  then  the  thundering  war  of  a  field  piece, 
and  in  an  instant  from  overhead  came  a  crack,  with  a  rain 
of  iron  fragments  as  a  shell  exploded  right  over  our  line; 
another  roar,  a  crack,  and  iron  shower  and  we  see  to  our 
dismay  two  brazen  guns  admirably  served,  trained  directly 
upon  us  pouring  shell  grape  and  cannister  into  our  ranks, 
while  their  musketry  fire  grew  hotter  and  fiercer  than  ever. 
Our  men  were  nearing  the  end  of  their  supply  of  ammuni 
tion.  If  the  Confederates  had  charged  upon  us  at  this  time 
they  would  have  annihilated  our  brigade! 


38 


Wounded  men  were  crawling  to  the  rear,  where  Dr. 
Wood,  with  McGill  and  his  assistants,  stood  under  their 
yellow  hospital  flag.  Col.  Bissell's  voice  rang  clear  and 
cheerful  as  ever,  but  his  face  was  anxious.  Down  into  the 
field  came  Bradley's  battery  at  a  gallop  and  very  soon  their 
guns  were  answering  the  enemy's.  Up  went  Bissell's 
sword,  with  a  joyful  cheer,  as  he  shouted  to  Lieutenant 
Dewey  "There's  music  in  the  air!"  Our  re-enforcements 
of  artillery  gave  us  renewed  spirits  but  it  was  in  vain  to 
hope  for  victory  against  a  better  posted  and  overwhelming 
force. 

Hurrah !  At  last,  here  comes  Dwight's  brigade.  But 
suddenly,  as  if  evoked  by  magic,  arose  a  long  gray  line  of 
armed  men.  They  had  crawled  nnperceived  through  the 
thick  high  canes  and  our  first  intimation  of  their  presence 
was  a  murderous  volley  raking  our  lines  from  right  to  left. 
Bradley's  battery  was  retreating  to  the  rear,  with  nine  of 
his  men  dead  or  disabled  on  the  ground.  "Fall  back!" 
shouted  the  Colonel.  Our  right  wing  was  in  confusion  and 
disorder.  The  left  wing  fell  back  steadily  but  only  for  a 
few  rods,  the  advancing  brigade  opened  ranks  to  let  us  pass 
and  we  halted  and  we  formed  in  its  rear  and  sank  exhaust 
ed  on  the  ground  anxiously  watching  the  fate  of  our  gal 
lant  supporters.  Ninety-five  of  our  brave  boys  were  dead 
or  wounded,  nine-tenths  of  them  by  that  terrible  flank  fire. 
In  our  last  five  minutes  on  the  field  lay  the  lifeless  bodies  of 
Captain  Hayden  and  young  Lieutenant  Dewey.  Arnold 
and  Wilson  lay  dead.  Lieutenant  Oliver  had  been  carried 
from  the  field  with  a  bullet  in  his  head,  to  linger  for  six 
weeks  before  death  came  to  his  relief.  Lieutenant  Water 
man  stood  resolute  at  the  head  of  his  company  with  his  arm 
bandaged  and  bleeding.  Lieutenant  Harkness  limped 
painfully  along  disabled  by  a  spent  bullet.  John  H.  Hunt 
of  Coventry  had  his  side  torn  open  by  an  explosion,  and 
his  sufferings  were  intense.  It  was  strange  that  he  didn't 
die  instantly,  yet  he  lingered  for  seven  days.  John  Mar 
tin  fell  dead  at  the  final  volley  from  the  Rebels.  Old  But- 


39 

ton  was  carried  off  the  field,  his  shoulder  mangled,  the  bone 
splintered  in  the  socket  and  with  but  a  few  days  more  of 
life  before  him.  Graham  lay  dead.  Brooks,  the  tall  young 
sapling  whose  extraordinary  height  made  him  a  conspicu 
ous  mark,  had  fallen  pierced  by  a  dozen  bullets.  Sergeant 
Taft,  with  a  shattered  arm,  was  carried  off  the  field  by  his 
lieutenant.  Brennan,  Gray,  Prindle,  Lawton,  Holden  and 
Carlos  Bissell  lay  dead.  Cook  lay  mortally  wounded. 
Lieutenant  Banning  was  crippled  for  life.  John  Thompson 
of  Ellington  had  a  bullet  hole  through  his  jaws,  incapacitat 
ing  him  for  further  service.  Goodwin,  Lincoln,  and  Avery 
Brown  were  also  seriously  injured  in  this  battle,  as  were 
also  many  others  whom  1  cannot  name. 


April  16th.  We  started  at  seven  o'clock,  marching  quite 
slowly  through  the  day.  We  were  on  the  way  to  Newton 
or  New  Iberia,  distance  about  35  miles  from  Irish  Bend, — 
where  the  battle  took  place.  It  was  very  hot  and  dusty 
and  the  men  were  getting  very  foot  sore;  a  good  many  had 
to  fall  out  by  the  road-side  to  rest.  We  had  formed  a  junc 
tion  with  Emory's  division  and  Wfeitzel's  brigade  and  were 
at  this  time  in  close  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  seven  miles 
from  New  Iberia.  We  had  taken  a  large  number  of  pris 
oners,  three  pieces  of  artillery  and  several  caissons  and  the 
Confederates  fearful  of  the  gunboats  Diana  and  the  Queen 
of  the  West  falling  into  our  hands  burned  them.  In  addition 
to  this  the  Arizona  engaged  and  blew  up  a  Rebel  gunboat. 
We  were  in  hot  pursuit  of  the  Rebels,  our  advance  skirm 
ishing  with  Rebel  General  Moulton's  rear  guard. 

April  17th.  We  were  up  at  three  o'clock,  and  started 
soon  after  getting  some  hard-tack  and  coffee.  Our  div 
ision  was  alone,  Emory's  division  having  taken  a  different 
route.  We  made  a  hard  march  of  twenty  miles.  A  great 
many  men  fell  out,  but  we  pushed  the  Rebels  hard.  At 
5  P.  M.  they  made  a  stand  and  an  artillery  duel  ensued  in 
which  we  lost  a  few  men.  The  Confederates  then  retired, 


40 

burning  the  bridge  over  the  bayou.  W'e  then  halted  for 
the  night,  supposing  that  our  ,next  move  would  be  Alex 
andra,  via  Opelousas,  which  since  the  capture  of  Baton 
Rouge  had  been  the  capital  of  the  state  of  Louisiana. 

April  19th,  Sunday.  This  morning  we  had  a  hard 
thunder  shower,  arousing  us  from  our  bunks  and  soaking 
us  thoroughly.  We  started  on  the  march  at  eight  o'clock. 
It  was  very  muddy  and  we  had  to  march  very  slow  on  that 
account.  We  went  into  camp  at  night  pretty  well  fagged 
out.  About  midnight  I  was  called  up  to  go  out  quite  a 
distance  to  an  out-post  on  picket.  We  had  a  very  hard 
time  of  it,  for  we  had  to  be  up  until  morning  and  stand  by 
our  arms. 

April  20th.  We  marched  rather  slow  on  account  of  it 
being  so  excessively  hot.  We  forded  quite  a  bayou  where 
the  Rebels  had  burned  another  bridge.  We  went  into 
camp  at  night  at  Opelousas,  where  we  expected  to  have  a 
fight  but  on  our  approach,  we  found  the  Rebels  had  re 
treated  from  the  town,  which  was  pretty  good  news  for  us. 

Opelousas,  April  21st.  I  will  endeavor  to  give  a  few 
of  my  experiences  at  this  place.  Here  General  Banks  gave 
his  worn  and  tired  army  a  rest.  The  Twenty-fifth  Connec 
ticut  took  position  about  seven  miles  east  of  headquarters, 
at  Barre's  Landing.  Wrhile  we  privates  were  enjoying  a 
suspension  of  active  operations,  the  officers  were  unusually 
busy,  as  their  numbers  were  greatly  reduced  by  resigna 
tion,  sickness  and  death.  We  were  still  wondering  why 
that  long  looked  for  paymaster  had  not  blessed  us  with  his 
appearance  and  we  were  still  in  despair  about  it.  Since  the 
battle  of  Irish  Bend  we  pressed  the  Confederates  hard  all 
the  wav  to  Opelousas,  fighting  their  rear  guard  and  taking 
prisoners  every  day.  Our  cavalry  made  a  fierce  charge  at 
New  Iberia.  With  sabers  drawn  they  charged  into  the 
Texicans,  scattering  them  in  every  direction.  We  were 
then  at  the  port  of  Opelousas  and  shipping  cotton  at  a  great 
rate.  We  had  shipped  some  two  thousand  bales ;  there 
was  still  a  large  quantity  at  the  landing  and  more  coming 
in  hourly.  We  had  to  all  take  hold  and  help  load  it  on  the 


41 

boat.  While  we  were  out  on  picket  one  day  we  had  the 
good  luck  to  come  across  one  hundred  and  thirty  bales. 
Opelousas  was  a  very  pleasant  little  city  of  several  thous 
and  inhabitants.  There  were  some  splendid  mansions  with 
grounds  laid  out  in  fine  style.  There  was  a  small  foundry 
in  the  place  and  two  magazines;  one  of  its  three  churches 
was  stored  with  powder  and  ammunition,  abandoned  by  the 
Confederates  in  their  flight.  The  people  were  more  Union 
than  any  we  had  previously  seen  and  were  of  a  better 
class.  Provisions  were  sold  at  fabulous  prices;  eggs  fifty 
cents  a  dozen,  coffee  five  dollars  a  pound,  and  flour  fifty 
dollars  a  barrel,  and  scarcely  any  at  that.  We  learned 
from  some  of  our  Rebel  prisoners  how  their  soldiers  lived. 
They  had  only  one  commissary  wagon  drawn  by  three 
yoke  of  oxen  for  an  army  of  five  thousand  men.  They  lived 
principally  upon  the  plantations  as  they  passed  along,  as 
we  had  done. 

The  slaves  appeared  to  me,  all  the  way  through  this 
long  march,  to  be  contente^d  and  happy  with  their  fam 
ilies  in  their  cabins.  I  think  they  lived  principally  on  corn 
which  they  ground  by  hand  power  and  made  into  corn 
bread  and  hoe  cake,  with  plenty  of  sweet  potatoes  which 
grew  abundantly  in  Louisiana.  I  think  they  must  have 
gotten  along  pretty  well.  At  many  plantations  where  the 
Union  soldiers  would  stop  at  nightfall  for  chickens,  the 
slaves  would  come  out  of  their  cabins  and  plead  with  us 
to  let  them  be.  This,  our  boys  were  very  loath  to  do,  and 
I  don't  know  as  anyone  could  blame  them,  for  a  good 
chicken  was  a  great  temptation  after  a  long  hard  day's 
march. 

May  5th.  We  started  on  our  return  march  this  morn 
ing  very  early.  We  came  through  a  little  village  by  the 
name  of  Washington.  We  marched  twenty  miles  and  went 
into  camp  for  the  night  very  tired  and  some  very  foot-sore. 
I  was  sick  all  day  but  managed  to  keep  up  with  the  regi 
ment.  It  was  very  hot  and  dry. 

May  7th.     This  morning  I  was  sick  and  got  a  pass 


42 

from  Doctor  Wood,  our  army  surgeon,  to  go  on  to  the  am 
bulance  wagon.  But  found  on  investigation  that  there 
was  no  room  for  me,  as  the  wagons  were  full  of  sick  men 
unable  to  sit  up.  Therefore  I  was  obliged  to  ride  on  a  bag 
gage  wagon  all  day.  Went  into  camp  at  night  feeling  some 
better.  Went  out  with  other  comrades  and  bought  some 
chickens  of  the  darkies.  About  this  time  the  paymaster 
arrived.  It  was  a  time  of  great  interest  to  the  men,  as  we 
had  not  been  paid  for  more  than  four  months.  A  great 
many  wanted  to  send  money  to  their  families  and  friends 
who,  in  some  cases  were  in  great  need.  But  we  were 
about  two  hundred  miles  from  New  Orleans,  the  nearest 
point  from  which  money  could  be  sent  with  safety.  There 
were  no  Confederates  in  arms  between  us  and  New  Or 
leans  but  the  country  was  full  of  men  who  had  broken  all 
laws  and  who  held  any  human  life  very  cheap,  when  money 
was  at  stake.  How  to  send  home  the  money  the  soldiers 
could  spare  was  a  very  important  question.  In  a  chapter 
printed  elsewhere  in  this  book,  entitled  "How  the  Pay  of 
the  Regiment  was  Carried  to  New  Orleans  by  Lieutenant 
Henry  Hill  Goodell,"  it  will  be  told  how  it  was  accomplish 
ed. 

On  May  21st  we  received  marching  orders  and  about 
noon  we  embarked  on  board  the  little  steamer  Empire 
Parish  along  with  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-ninth  New 
York  and  the  Thirteenth  Connecticut.  I  wonder  if  any 
one  can  imagine  how  crowded  we  were,  also  taking  into 
consideration  that  a  good  many  of  the  soldiers  were 
inclined  to  be  troublesome.  Colonel  Bissell  was  taken 
quite  sick  at  about  this  time  and  had  to  find  a  place  to  lie 
down.  Soon  after  3  P.  M.,  while  the  rest  of  the  boats  were 
being  loaded  we  shipped  from  the  dock  and  away  up  the 
Atchafalaya  to  the  Red  River  where  we  passed  the  Swit 
zerland  and  another  little  boat  watching  for  Rebel  craft. 
Here  we  slipped  down  the  Red  River  to  the  Mississippi, 
where  we  came  upon  the  grim  old  Hartford,  Rear  Admiral 
Farragut's  flagship.  The  Thirteenth  Connecticut  band 


43 

saluted  her  as  we  passed,  with  "The  Star  Spangled  Ban 
ner"  and  "Yankee  Doodle."  At  about  midnight  we  went 
ashore  at  Bayou  Sara,  sixteen  miles  from  Port  Hudson.  A 
portion  of  our  brigade  marched  on  and  left  our  regiment  to 
unload  the  boats.  It  was  after  2  A.  M.  before  we  had  any 
chance  to  lie  down. 

May  22nd,  at  about  four  o'clock,  we  started,  breakfast- 
less,  to  overtake  the  rest  of  our  brigade.  Colonel  Bissell 
was  left  at  a  house  with  a  guard.  Major  McManus  assum 
ed  command  of  the  regiment.  We  marched  a  short  dis 
tance  and  found  the  remainder  of  our  brigade  encamped  at 
St.  Francisville,  which  was  upon  a  hill  the  first  we  had 
seen  since  coming  to  Louisiana.  Soon  after  eight  o'clock 
our  column  was  set  in  motion,  the  Third  brigade  in  ad 
vance.  As  we  passed  through  the  village  of  St.  Francis 
ville  the  people  thronged  to  the  doors.  Some  would  curse 
and  swear,  while  others  seemed  glad  to  see  us.  One 
woman  in  a  spiteful  tone  called  out  to  another  woman : 
"Come  in,  for  God's  sake,  and  don't  stay  there  looking  at 
those  Yankee  devils."  The  manners  of  these  Southern 
women  were  astonishing.  They  would  curse  and  call  us 
vile  names  and  call  upon  God  to  save  a  just  cause.  We  had 
a  hard  march  climbing  up  hill  between  magnificent  hedges 
of  jessamine  in  bloom,  the  flowers  of  which  were  very 
beautiful.  We  advanced  very  slowly  for  it  was  quite 
warm  and  the  dust  was  stifling.  To  add  to  all  this  it  was 
a  terrible  country  to  skirmish  through.  We  had  two  men 
seriously  wounded  during  that  day.  At  about  4  o'clock  we 
halted  and  our  regiment  was  ordered  to  the  front  as  ad 
vance  picket  for  the  night.  We  deployed  into  a  field  near 
a  beautiful  creek, — Thompson's, — where  the  water  was 
knee-deep  and  very  clear.  Our  forces  were  ordered  across 
the  creek  to  the  edge  of  the  adjoining  woods.  After  a  short 
skirmish  we  succeeded  in  accomplishing  our  object.  It 
rained  quite  hard  and  we  had  to  be  upon  the  watch  most  of 
the  night. 

May  23rd.     We  started  on  the  march,  our  men  pretty 


44 

well  tired  out  by  two  nights'  duty.  But  we  had  no  mercy 
shown  us.  The  Twenty-fifth  regiment  was  ordered  to  take 
the  advance  as  skirmishers  and  a  hard  time  we  had  of  it, 
forcing  our  way  through  bamboo  brake,  pushing  over  vine 
and  bushes,  wading  through  water,  scratching  and  tearing 
ourselves  with  thorns  and  stumbling  over  ploughed  fields. 
It  was  very  hard  work  and  many  a  strong  man  gave  out 
with  fatigue  and  exhaustion.  At  10  o'clock  A.  M.  we  met 
the  advance  of  Colonel  Grierson's  cavalry.  Our  wearied 
column  of  soldiers  were  called  in,  therefore  we  were  very 
much  pleased  to  see  them.  We  advanced  a  short  distance 
and  halted  near  a  well  of  delicious  cool  water,  some  two 
miles  from  Port  Hudson.  In  a  few  minutes,  General 
Augur  rode  up  and  held  a  conference  with  General  Grover. 

At  7  P.  M.  I  was  detailed  to  go  on  picket.  Rather 
rough  on  a  fellow  to  be  two  days  and  nights  on  duty. 
But  a  soldier's  first  duty  is  to  obey  without  grumbling  and 
so  I  went,  but  I  could  hardly  keep  from  going  to  sleep.  It 
was  a  beautiful  moonlight  night  and  I  stood  and  watched 
the  bombs  from  the  mortar  boats  curling  around  in  the  sky 
and  bursting  in  a  fiery  show,  making  a  splendid  sight.  The 
night  passed  quietly,  save  for  a  couple  of  false  alarms.  At 
about  5  o'clock  A.  M.,  Jared  Wells,  my  old  tent  mate,  and 
I  went  out  blackberrying.  In  a  little  while  we  had  enough 
for  a  good  meal  for  ourselves  and  some  for  the  boys  in 
camp.  This  was  the  24th  of  May,  under  the  guns  of  Port 
Hudson.  We  got  back  into  camp  about  9  o'clock  and  com 
menced  making  preparations  for  a  Sunday  advance  on  the 
fortifications.  The  Second  Brigade  was  in  advance  and 
the  Twenty-fourth  Connecticut  lost  a  few  men ;  at  about 
noon  the  first  earthworks  were  taken  and  we  deployed  into 
the  woods  on  our  right.  We  lay  here  for  two  long  hours 
while  shells  burst  all  around  us,  but  we  were  mercifully 
preserved,  though  in  great  danger. 

Soon  after  4  P.  M.,  our  regiment  was  ordered  out  as 
picket-skirmishers  and  we  were  stationed  behind  trees  all 
through  the  woods  to  keep  the  enemy  back.  On  our  right 


45 

was  the  Thirteenth  Connecticut  and  on  the  left  was  the 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty-ninth  New  York.  This  was  the 
third  night  that  we  had  been  on  duty  and  we  were  pretty 
well  tired  out  but  it  seems  they  hadn't  got  through  with 
the  Twenty-fifth  yet. 

May  25th.  At  about  9  A.  M.  we  were  relieved  and 
called  in.  As  we  were  being  relieved  by  the  Twelfth 
Maine  we  had  to  pass  over  a  place  commanded  by  the 
sharpshooters  of  the  enemy.  The  bullets  whizzed  most 
unpleasantly  near,  killing  one  man  of  the  Thirteenth  Con 
necticut.  We  thought  that  after  being  relieved  we  should 
get  some  rest.  But  about  as  soon  as  we  got  into  camp  we 
were  ordered  to  fall  in  again.  We  marched  out  of  the 
woods,  over  the  hill  and  the  entrenchments  taken  the  day 
before,  immediately  coming  under  a  sharp  fire  from  the 
Rebel  sharpshooters.  We  were  immediately  ordered  to 
fire  upon  them  and  drive  them  out.  After  a  sharp  skirmish 
of  half  an  hour  we  drove  them  clear  out  of  the  woods  and 
into  their  rifle-pits.  We  then  occupied  the  woods,  and  we 
kept  up  such  a  sharp  fire  upon  them  that  not  one  of  the 
rascally  Rebs  dared  lift  his  head  above  the  works.  We 
were  just  in  time  to  save  the  Twelfth  Maine  from  being 
flanked  and  cut  to  pieces. 

About  3  P.  M.  General  Weitzel's  brigade  attacked, 
and  after  a  severe  fight,  drove  the  Rebels  out  of  the  woods. 
While  this  was  going  on  our  right,  we  could  hear  the 
yells,  hurrahs  and  the  crackle  of  musketry,  roar  of  artil 
lery  and  many  other  concomitants  of  the  fight,  but  could 
see  but  little.  Consequently  we  stood  and  fidgeted  round 
not  knowing  when  our  turn  might  come. 

May  26th.  Our  regiment  remained  on  the  reserve  till 
5  P.  M.,  when  the  four  right  companies  were  ordered  to  the 
front.  We  had  a  splendid  view  of  an  artillery  duel.  The 
work  of  Nim's  battery  was  perfect.  Our  artillery  un- 
limbered  two  or  three  guns  and  their  fire  was  so  sharp,  the 
Rebel  gunners  did  not  dare  load  their  pieces. 

May  27th.     We  were  relieved  at  about  6  P.  M.,  by  the 


46 

Twelfth  Maine  regiment,  but  we  were  almost  immediately 
ordered  out  to  the  support  of  Nim's  battery  which  had  just 
been  put  into  position.  Here  we  lay  five  or  six  hours 
while  the  enemy's  shells  burst  in  most  unpleasant  proxim 
ity.  Then  our  regiment  and  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty- 
ninth  New  York  were  ordered  out  to  the  support  of  Gen 
eral  Weitzel  on  our  right.  We  marched  on  the  double- 
quick  down  through  the  woods,  when  we  were  ordered  by 
General  Grover  to  advance  to  the  front  and  carry  the  earth 
works.  We  were  informed  that  there  were  hardly  any 
Rebels  there.  Major  Burt  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty- 
ninth,  who  was  in  command,  was  told  that  his  regiment 
alone  would  be  able  to  carry  the  works  and  to  send  back 
our  regiment  if  it  wasn't  needed.  But  we  found  out  very 
soon  that  our  assistance  would  be  necessary  to  carry  the 
earthworks.  We  rushed  on  through  the  woods  and  down 
a  hill,  swept  by  the  enemy's  artillery.  Here  we  turned  to 
the  right  and  emerged  on  to  a  plain.  I  shall  never  forget 
that  sight.  The  valley  was  filled  with  felled  trees,  and 
heavy  underbrush,  while  thick  and  black  rolled  the 
battle-smoke.  There  was  a  hill  on  our  left,  strongly  en 
trenched  and  from  here  loomed  up  a  big  gun.  Just  below 
on  a  little  bridge  was  planted  a  stand  of  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  the  glorious  old  banner,  and  gathered  around  it 
stood  a  handful  of  brave  men  firing  a  stream  of  bullets 
upon  that  piece.  For  six  long  hours  the  gunners  did  not 
dare  approach  to  load  and  that  wicked  looking  gun  was 
kept  silent.  It  was  here  that  we  had  a  taste  of  real  war  in 
all  its  horrors.  It  was  a  sort  of  a  floating  panorama  that 
passed  before  me,  a  hideous  dream.  There  was  a  roaring 
and  crashing  of  artillery,  bursting  of  shells  and  the  rattle 
of  muskets,  with  hissing  and  whistling  of  minie  balls  and 
battle-smoke  lowering  down  upon  us.  There  were  men 
dropping  here  and  there  and  all  the  horrid  experiences  of 
war.  Still  we  kept  on ;  there  was  a  short  turn  to  the  right 
and  in  single  file  we  commenced  ascending  through  a  deep 
ravine.  IWading  through  water,  stumbling  over  and  under 


fallen  trees,  we  finally  came  to  a  pit  about  six  feet  deep; 
when  we  had  gotten  out  of  that  we  were  on  the  side  of  the 
hill  where  we  had  to  prepare  to  make  a  charge.  It  was  a 
wicked  place  to  charge.  The  nature  of  the  ground  was 
such  it  was  impossible  to  form  in  battle  line,  so 
to  make  the  attack  in  three  columns  over  felled 
trees  which  were  cris-crossed  in  every  shape  imaginable. 
We  waited  here  for  a  few  moments  with  beating  hearts, 
waiting  for  the  forward  charge.  The  word  came  and  with 
a  terrifying  yell  we  rose  to  our  feet  and  rushed  forward. 
It  was  a  terrible  time,  when  bounding  over  the  last  tree 
and  crashing  through  some  brush  we  came  out  within  a 
short  distance  of  the  enemy's  entrenchments,  and  it  seemed 
as  though  a  thousand  rifles  were  cracking  our  doom.  This 
fire  was  too  deadly  for  men  to  stand  against.  Our  brave 
fellows,  shot  down  as  fast  as. they  could  come  up,  were 
beaten  back.  Then  occurred  one  of  those  heroic  deeds 
we  sometimes  read  about.  The  colors  of  the  One  Hun 
dred  and  Fifty-ninth  were  left  on  the  hill,  their  color  ser 
geant  having  been  killed.  Corporal  Buckley  of  our  regi 
ment  calmly  worked  back  in  that  terrific  fire,  picked  up  the 
dear  old  flag  and  brought  it  in,  turned  to  pick  up  his  gun 
and  was  killed.  He  was  a  noble  fellow  and  much  be 
loved  in  the  regiment. 

Resting  here  a  short  time,  we  made  a  second  charge 
with  the  same  deadly  results.  Our  regiment  and  the  One 
Hundred  and  Fifty-ninth  New  York  lost  80  men  killed  and 
wounded.  It  was  a  terrible  position  we  were  in.  Sharp 
shooters  on  the  left  picking  us  off;  sharpshooters  on  right 
giving  it  to  us  and  the  rifle  pits  in  front.  Here  we  had  to 
stay  till  after  10  o'clock  that  night  when  the  order  came  to 
fall  back,  which  we  did,  bringing  off  our  wounded.  I  was 
so  tired  I  fell  asleep  and  barely  woke  in  time  to  get  away. 
We  had  several  killed  and  wounded  in  our  regiment.  I 
will  say  here  that  our  little  company  was  not  entirely  dis 
solved  at  this  time  though  reduced  to  less  than  20  men. 
Our  colonel  we  missed  sadly,  but  earnestly  hoped  to  wel- 


48 

come  him  back  soon.  Our  regiment  numbered  162  men 
and  eight  officers  at  this  time. 

May  28th.  There  was  lively  firing  this  morning  on 
the  picket  lines,  but  the  cannons  were  quiet.  We  were  ex 
pecting  reinforcements  and  we  needed  them  if  we  were 
ever  to  take  Port  Hudson.  This  was  the  seventh  day  of 
the  siege  and  we  were  pretty  well  fagged  out.  We  had  to 
fight  for  every  foot  of  ground.  But  we  had  carried  the 
first  two  earthworks  by  storm.  It  had  been  one  continual 
fight  since  we  started  in  but  there  was  a  cessation  of  hos 
tilities  for  a  short  time,  and  the  lull  was  a  great  relief,  for 
my  ears  had  been  half-deafened  by  the  awful  roar  of  ar 
tillery  and  cracking  of  musketry.  There  were  three  men 
killed  and  about  twenty  wounded,  and  thirty  in  our  regi 
ment  missing.  Again  in  our  little  company  we  had  sev 
eral  wounded,  one  fatally.  So  I  think  that  I  must  have 
been  in  great  danger  several  times,  but  I  felt  that  a  kind 
Providence  watched  over  me,  and  brought  me  out  safely. 
The  regiment  at  this  time  was  under  the  command  of 
Major  McManus,  Colonel  Bissell  being  sick  with  remittant 
fever  at  Bayou  Sara  and  the  lieutenant-colonel  prostrated 
at  New  Orleans.  The  colored  regiments  fought  bravely 
and  made  some  splendid  charges. 

May  31st.  There  has  been  some  firing  by  the  infantry 
and  artillery  during  the  day.  About  ten  o'clock  last  night 
we  withdrew  our  forces  very  cautiously,  bringing  away  all 
the  wounded  we  could  reach,  but  there  were  some  poor  un 
fortunates  lying  up  under  the  breastworks  that  it  was  im 
possible  to  reach.  Every  time  we  tried  to  get  to  them  the 
Rebs  would  fire  on  us.  We  threw  them  canteens  of  water 
but  it  was  of  little  use.  W'e  marched  back  and  lay  upon 
the  battlefield  of  the  preceding  day. 

June  Ist.^  We  marched  back  into  the  woods  and  were 
there  in  support  of  a  battery.  It  was  very  trying  for  us. 
The  Rebs  had  a  perfect  range  on  us  and  several  times  a 
day  they  would  throw  those  immense  twelve-inch  shells 
right  into  our  midst.  We  could  hear  them  coming  for 


49 


several  seconds  and  we  all  stood  close  to  the  trees  for  pro 
tection.  There  must  have  been  a  large  number  killed  that 
day.  The  next  day  there  was  a  cessation  of  hostilities  to 
bury  the  dead.  At  about  seven  o'clock  the  enemy  made  a 
terrible  onslaught  on  our  right  but  they  were  repulsed  with 
heavy  loss.  We  fell  into  our  places  expecting  to  be  called 
into  action  but  we  were  spared  for  once.  We  remained 
there  until  the  7th  when  Lieutenant-Colonel  Weld  came  up 
from  New  Orleans  and  assumed  command. 

June  7th.  We  were  ordered  to  the  front  to  relieve  the 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty-ninth  New  York  in  the  rifle-pits. 
We  went  out  in  the  night  as  the  enemy's  sharpshooters 
rendered  it  very  dangerous  to  go  in  the  daytime.  We 
had  rifle  pits  dug  about  two  hundred  yards  from  the  rifle- 
pits  of  the  Rebs,  and  we  had  loop-holes  made  from  which 
to  fire.  About  one  hundred  yards  back  of  us  was  planted 
one  of  our  batteries  and  as  they  fired  over  our  heads  any 
one  might  imagine  what  a  deafening  report  rang  in  our 
ears.  We  boys  got  the  range  of  the  rifle-pits  of  "Mr. 
Secesh"  opposite,  perfectly,  consequently  they  didn't  dare 
show  their  heads.  Though  from  their  hiding  place  they 
annoyed  us  all  day.  After  dark  we  usually  held  some  con 
versation  with  the  Rebs  across  the  ravine.  We  would  ask 
them  if  they  wanted  any  soft  bread.  If  they  did  we  would 
put  some  in  a  mortar  and  send  it  over.  They  said  they 
didn't  care  to  have  any  sent  that  way  and  as  we  didn't  have 
much  to  spare  we  didn't  send  any.  Our  bean  soup  and 
coffee  and  such  other  food  as  might  be  handy  was  sent  out 
before  daylight  in  the  morning  and  after  dark  at  night.  We 
were  here  in  this  trench  or  pit  for  three  long  days  and 
nights  and  one  can  imagine  how  we  suffered  from  heat  and 
thirst.  We  were  relieved  on  the  tenth  by  the  One  Hun 
dred  and  Fifty-ninth  New  York.  We  returned  to  our  old 
camp-ground  June  llth  between  12  and  1  A.  M.  A  gen 
eral  assault  was  planned  but  owing  to  some  misunder 
standing  the  plan  failed. 

June  14th,  Sunday.     The  day  was  an  eventful  one  in 


50 

the  siege  of  Port  Hudson,  of  which  the  Twenty-fifth  Con 
necticut  was  engaged.  We  were  under  wray  at  an  early 
hour,  for  we  formed  the  reserve  in  the  attacking  column. 
Colonel  Birge  was  in  command  of  the  reserve.  We  were 
up  at  3  A.  M.,  had  a  little  hard-tack  and  coffee  and  started 
under  command  of  Captain  Naughton  at  4.  Suddenly  we 
heard  a  terrifying  yell  and  the  crash  and  roar  of  artillery 
and  musketry.  Soon  the  dead  and  wounded  began  to  be 
brought  in.  All  kinds  of  conflicting  stories  were  circulat 
ed  as  to  the  success  of  our  brave  fellows.  Very  soon  Gen 
eral  Payne  was  wounded,  and  Colonel  H.  W.  Birge  assum 
ed  command,  we  forming  the  reserve.  Soon  we  were  or 
dered  forward.  On  through  the  scene  of  our  first  day's 
fight,  then  down  through  a  ravine,  where  a  road  had  been 
cut.  Here  we  halted  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  where  we 
formed  in  battle  line  and  made  another  charge  right  up 
over  the  hill,  exposed  to  a  raking  fire,  as  we  went  over  the 
crest  and  down  through  the  ravine  before  we  could  reach 
the  breastworks.  There  we  lost  two  lieutenants.  A  large 
number  of  men  were  killed  or  wounded.  We  arrived  at 
the  other  side  of  the  hill  in  great  confusion.  I  shall  never 
forget  that  horrible  scene.  There  were  parts  of  several 
regiments  all  mixed  up  together,  entangled  among  fallen 
trees.  But  after  getting  straightened  out,  and  the  line 
once  more  formed,  the  order  to  charge  was  countermanded 
and  we  had  to  lay  up  there  in  that  fearful  hot  sun  all  day. 
I  was  taken  sick  and  had  to  rest  for  awhile  but  I  soon  got 
better  and  joined  the  regiment.  At  about  10  P.  M.  we 
were  ordered  down  into  the  outer  ditch  of  the  breastworks. 
We  were  there  but  a  short  time,  when  we  were  ordered  to 
the  right  to  our  old  position  in  the  rifle-pits,  which  we 
reached  at  midnight. 

General  Payne  had  been  wounded  in  the  leg  in  the 
forenoon,  but  we  could  not  get  up  where  he  was  to  give 
him  any  aid,  consequently  he  had  to  lay  there  in  the  burn 
ing  sun  till  night,  when  he  was  brought  away  in  safety. 
It  was  a  scorching  hot  day  and  a  number  were  sunstruck, 


51 


some  cases  proving  fatal.  I  was  exhausted  and  had  to  lie 
down  in  the  shade.  It  was  a  miserable  Sunday  scrape  and 
ended  like  all  the  rest  that  had  been  started  on  a  Sunday, 
disastrously.  The  loss  of  life  was  very  great. 

We  were  relieved  at  night  by  the  Twenty-eighth  Con 
necticut  and  returned  once  more  to  our  old  camp-ground, 
where,  after  the  whizzing  of  the  bullets  and  the  cracking 
of  firearms  had  died  away,  all  was  still  but  the  groans  that 
could  be  heard  upon  the  bloody  battlefield. 

June  15th.  The  day  after  the  second  assault  on  Port 
Hudson,  General  Banks  issued  a  call  for  volunteers  "for  a 
storming  column  of  a  thousand  men  to  vindicate  the  Flag 
of  the  Union,  and  the  memory  of  its  defenders  who  had 
fallen.  Let  them  come  forward,  every  officer  and  soldier 
who  shares  its  perils  and  its  glory  shall  receive  a  medal 
fit  to  commemorate  the  first  grand  success  of  the  campaign 
of  1863  for  the  freedom  of  the  Mississippi  River.  His 
name  will  be  placed  upon  the  roll  of  honor."  The  next  day, 
June  16,  the  order  was  promulgated  and  two  days  later, 
June  18,  these  "stormers,"  as  they  were  called,  were  gath 
ered  into  a  camp  by  themselves  and  put  into  training  cal 
culated  to  promote  physical  strength  and  endurance.  By 
every  conceivable  way  they  prepared  themselves  for  the 
work  that  they  were  expected  to  do.  These  brave  men 
knew  that  all  the  arrangements  for  their  support  had  been 
made  but  the  expected  order  did  not  come.  They  had  had 
three  or  four  dreadful  experiences  in  charging  earthworks 
and  yet  these  men  were  willing  to  assault  those  same  earth 
works  again. 

June  26th.  There  has  been  considerable  bombarding 
on  account  of  the  Rebels  opening  some  big  guns  but  I 
think  they  are  doing  very  little  damage.  We  heard  today 
that  the  enemy  had  driven  our  army  across  the  Potomac 
and  that  there  was  great  excitement  throughout  the  North. 
We  hoped  that  the  report  was  false.  Last  night  I  was  de 
tailed  to  go  on  picket  being  sent  out  to  an  outpost  about  a 
mile  from  the  reserve.  We  stood  by  our  arms  most  of  the 


time  during  the  night.  There  was  brisk  firing  on  our  left 
most  of  the  time. 

June  27th.  Came  in  from  picket.  Today  we  have 
been  reviewed  by  Major-General  Banks.  He  made  a  tem 
perance  speech  to  us.  I  think  he  must  have  thought  that 
we  were  getting  to  be  a  pretty  tough  set  of  fellows.  I 
don't  see  how  he  could  have  thought  that,  when  we 
couldn't  get  very  much  that  was  intoxicating,  only  what 
quinine  and  whiskey  Uncle  Sam  issued  to  us  when  we 
came  off  picket  duty. 

July  1st.  There  has  been  a  reason  for  my  not  writing 
in  my  diary  for  a  few  days.  We  had  been  told  that  no  sol 
diers'  letters  could  be  sent  North  and  I  put  off  writing  in 
the  hope  that  I  could  record  the  fall  of  Port  Hudson,  that 
Rebel  stronghold.  But  still  the  siege  drags  slowly  along. 
Our  days  were  divided  betwreen  rifle-pits  and  making  as 
saults.  The  Rebs  hold  their  rifle-pits  and  we  advance  ours 
or  remain  stationary. 

Yesterday,  the  colored  brigade  carried  a  hill  by  storm 
and  have  held  it,  notwithstanding  the  great  effort  made  by 
the  Rebels  to  regain  it. 

Sunday,  July  3rd.  We  attacked  Port  Hudson  at  two 
points,  but  were  beaten  back  with  great  loss.  The  battle 
still  rages  and  omnipotence  still  holds  the  scales  in  equal 
balance.  This  is  the  25th  day  of  the  siege  and  we  are  still 
stuck  outside  the  fortification.  Last  Sunday  we  made  a 
general  assault.  We  got  inside  three  times  but  for  want 
of  support  were  driven  back.  Men  were  mowed  down  on 
our  right  and  left.  It  was  a  wonder  how  I  was  preserved. 
I  have  been  in  four  direct  assaults  on  the  breastworks, 
several  skirmishes  and  yet  not  a  scratch  have  I  received. 

Port  Hudson,  July  4th,  (Independence  Day).  As  will 
be  seen,  we  had  no  idea  of  what  was  going  on  more  than 
two  hundred  miles  up  the  river  at  Vicksburg,  or  fifteen 
hundred  miles  at  Gettysburg.  At  Vicksburg,  General 
Grant  was  quietly  smoking  a  cigar  when  he  wrote  a  dis 
patch  to  be  sent  to  Cairo  to  be  telegraphed  to  the  General- 


53 

in-Chief  at  Washington :  "The  enemy  surrendered  this 
morning.  The  only  terms  allowed  is  their  parole  as  pris 
oners  of  war."  The  same  dispatch  was  sent  to  General 
Banks  at  Port  Hudson.  At  Gettysburg  the  army  of  the 
Potomac  had  inflicted  a  terrible  defeat  on  the  army  of 
Northern  Virginia.  I  really  believe  this  is  the  quietest 
Fourth  of  July  I  have  ever  spent.  Verily,  I  don't  believe 
there  has  been  as  much  powder  burnt  here  as  in  New  York 
or  Boston.  I  wouldn't  wonder  if  Hartford,  with  its  swarm 
of  boys,  could  outstrip  us.  Every  little  while  there's  a 
bang,  a  boom  and  the  bursting  of  a  shell,  for  we  must  keep 
the  besieged  from  falling  asleep  and  stir  them  up  occasion 
ally.  Now,  the  music  is  becoming  lively,  the  gunboats 
and  the  batteries  are  pitching  in  and  altogether  we  are  giv 
ing  them  Hail  Columbia  to  the  tune  of  Yankee  Doodle. 

For  the  last  few  days  we  have  been  in  a  very  enviable 
frame  of  mind,  expecting  every  day  to  be  ordered  to  par 
ticipate  in  another  assault.  Yet  the  orders  have  not  come 
and  each  night  we  have  drawn  a  long  breath  and  exclaimed 
one  more  day  of  grace.  W'ell,  so  it  is,  but  while  we  are 
getting  uneasy  for  another  fight  we  have  a  strong  desire 
to  avoid  charging  on  the  breastworks  again.  We've  been 
in  three,  and  some  of  us  four,  assaults  on  the  Rebel  fortifi 
cations  and  each  time  we  have  been  driven  back.  The  first 
of  July,  General  Banks  made  us  a  great  speech  promising 
us  that  within  three  days  we  would  be  inside  Port  Hudson. 
But  the  three  days  have  passed  and  those  rascally  Rebs 
still  persist  in  keeping  us  outside.  Although  the  fortifica 
tions  could  probably  be  stormed  any  day,  yet  why  waste 
life  when  a  few  days  will  bring  them  to  terms,  as  they  are 
now  reduced  to  mule-meat  and  a  little  corn.  Deserters  are 
coming  in  fast.  One  day  as  many  as  one  hundred  and  fifty 
came  in  saying  they  couldn't  stand  mule-meat  any  longer. 
Now  I  am  feeling  sure  that  within  a  few  days  I  shall  be 
able  to  record  the  fall  of  Port  Hudson.  The  Rebel  cavalry 
are  harrassing  our  rear  ranks  continually.  They  made  a 
dash  day  before  yesterday  from  Clinton  and  Jackson,  strik- 


54 

ing  here  and  there  and  picked  up  some  stragglers  and  forag 
ing  parties.  A  few  days  ago  they  dashed  into  Springfield 
Landing  whence  we  draw  our  stores  and  ammunition,  but 
our  cavalry  went  after  them  so  quick  they  found  pressing 
business  in  other  quarters. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Mississippi  quite  a  force  came 
down.  They  attacked  Donaldsonville  a  few  days  ago  de 
manding  the  surrender  of  the  town.  But  the  provost- 
marshal  gathered  his  forces  together,  amounting  to  about 
two  hundred,  got  inside  his  fortifications,  and  waited  for 
them  to  come  up.  The  contest  was  kept  up  from  midnight 
till  daylight,  when  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  gunboat 
caused  the  Rebels  to  skedaddle,  leaving  about  one  hundred 
dead  on  the  field,  several  hundred  wounded  and  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  prisoners. 

Now  comes  the  great  surprise  of  all.  The  confounded 
Rebs  have  got  into  Bayou  Bouef  and  destroyed  or  captured 
the  whole  of  our  division  property  stored  there.  Tents, 
baggage,  knapsacks,  company  and  regimental  books  are 
all  gone.  At  this  time  we  were  all  as  poor  as  Job's  turkey. 
Except  for  the  rags  that  cover  us,  we  haven't  a  thing.  Were 
I  where  I  could,  I  should  like  to  write  a  letter  to  the  Sol 
diers'  Aid  Society  for  some  handkerchiefs,  being  reduced 
to  the  last  shift,  i.  e.,  the  flap  of  an  old  shirt  picked  up  in  a 
deserted  mansion.  Word  comes  from  Colonel  Bissell  that 
he  is  slowly  improving.  We  are  hoping  that  we  shall  see 
him  with  us  again  soon.  But  I  really  believe  his  sickness 
saved  his  life,  for  it  is  doubtful  if  he  would  have  come  out 
alive  from  the  charge  the  regiment  made  on  the  2?th  of 
May.  We  are  having  some  very  hot  weather.  We  are  spend 
ing  most  of  our  time  on  picket  duty  and  trying  to  keep  cool. 
You  would  have  laughed  if  you  could  have  seen  us  at  our 
meals  wearing  only  shirt  and  drawers,  while  our  comical 
colored  boy,  Adam,  squatted  down  on  the  ground  in  front 
of  us  keeping  the  flies  off.  This  Adam  was  a  corker. 
Speaking  of  Mobile  one  day,  he  said :  "Reckon  you  couldn't 
fool  dis  nigga  much  in  dat  town.  Specks  he  was  born  and 


55 

raised  dar.  Yah !  yah !  yah !  Reckon  he  knows  ebry  hole 
dar  from  de  liquor-shops  to  de  meeting  houses." 

July  8th.  The  dispatch  from  General  Grant,  previous 
ly  referred  to,  was  received.  The  booming  of  big  guns,  the 
cheers  and  shouts  of  the  Union  soldiers  and  the  strains  of 
patriotic  music  informed  the  besieged  that  something  had 
happened.  They  were  not  slow  to  find  out  the  cause  of 
the  rejoicing.  General  Gardner  sent  a  flag  of  truce  to 
General  Banks  to  know  if  the  report  that  Vicksburg  had 
surrendered  was  true  and  received  in  reply  a  copy  of  Gen 
eral  Grant's  dispatch.  The  garrison  had  done  their  duty 
with  brave  fortitude.  The  Union  lines  were  already  in 
some  places  up  to  their  breastworks.  Starvation  was  star 
ing  them  in  the  face  and  taking  everything  into  considera 
tion  about  the  only  thing  for  General  Gardner  to  do  was  to 
surrender.  Should  the  expected  charge  have  been  made 
by  the  "stormers"  it  would  have  been  a  waste  of  life  for 
they  could  not  expect  to  hold  their  position. 

The  8th  was  spent  in  arranging  terms  for  the  surrender 
of  the  fortress  and  on  the  9th,  the  storming  column  led  the 
advance  as  the  victorious  army  marched  into  Port  Hud 
son  to  put  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  the  place  of  the  stars 
and  bars. 

President  Lincoln's  long-desired  hope  was  realized  and 
he  could  now  say:  "The  Father  of  Waters  again  goes  un 
molested  to  the  sea."  The  time  of  the  nine-months'  men 
was  soon  to  expire  and  the  Twenty-fifth  Connecticut  left 
very  soon  for  New  Orleans,  but  was  detained  at  Donald- 
sonville  for  a  few  days. 

About  fifty  years  ago  the  people  in  the  North  were 
probably  in  a  frenzy  of  excitement.  We  soldiers  in  the 
South  had  learned  to  take  things  cool.  Vicksburg,  the 
stumbling  block,  had  fallen ;  Port  Hudson  had  caved  in ; 
Lee  and  his  army  had  gone  to  one  eternal  smash ;  Port 
Hudson  had  scarcely  surrendered  when  we  were  called 
upon  again  to  take  the  field.  Those  confounded  Rebels 
didn't  know  how  to  stay  whipped,  and  General  Taylor, 


56 

reinforced  by  General  Magruder's  Texicans,  had  again 
taken  the  field.  They  attacked  us  at  Donaldsonville  with 
a  much  larger  force  in  proportion  to  ours  but  got  soundly 
thrashed;  we  being  strongly  reinforced,  came  out  to  meet 
them  and  got  whipped,  and  so  the  matter  rested.  The 
commanding  officer  of  the  brigade  was  flanked  through 
carelessness  and  they  had  to  fall  back  with  a  loss  of  two 
cannon.  Our  brigade  was  on  the  reserve.  We  fell  in  and 
rushed  to  the  rescue  but  too  late,  for  they  were  in  full  re 
treat.  A  new  line  was  formed,  the  Twenty-fifth  deployed 
as  skirmishers  and  sent  forward.  After  advancing  quite 
a  distance  through  the  corn  we  were  ordered  back  and  our 
whole  force  fell  back  about  half  a  mile,  where  we  were  still 
holding  a  strong  position.  The  Rebels  meanwhile  had 
left  and  fortified  at  Labordeville,  some  twenty  miles  dis 
tant.  The  Twenty-fifth  Connecticut  regiment,  after  one 
of  the  most  trying  campaigns  of  the  war,  was  about  to  take 
another  sea  voyage. 

Here  are  a  few  verses  which   I   have  written  on  the 
siege  of  Port  Hudson : 

PORT  HUDSON. 

Well  do  I  remember,  how  fifty  years  ago, 
Down  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi, 
We  met  the  Southern  foe, 
And  faced  a  storm  of  shot  and  shell ; 
That  many  a  life  was  sacrificed 
Mid  battle  hell  of  smoke  and  flame 
On  the  field  of  Port  Hudson. 

Well  do  I  remember,  how  those  days, 
The  gallant  Third  Brigade  went 
Marching  down  into  the  woods 
Like  men  on  dress  parade ; 
Though  from  the  wood  in  front 
The  foe  their  deadly  missies  sent. 
Thinning  our  ranks 
Those  days  at  Bloody  Port  Hudson. 


SAMUEL    KIMBALL    ELLIS 

This  picture  was  taken  at  time  of  enlistment  Sept.  12,  1863, 
at  the  age  of  22.     He  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
Company  G,  25th  Regiment,  Connec 
ticut  Volunteers. 


57 


How  on  the  left  the  Connecticut  Thirteenth  engaged  in 
desperate  fight 

And  left  in  front  the  Twenty-fifth  was  marshaled  on  the 
right ; 

Side  by  side,  New  York  and  Maine  for  honors  did  contend, 

When  Rebel  yell  and  Yankee  cheer  was  heard  at  Port  Hud 
son. 

And  though  we  drove  away  the  foe 

How  dear  was  victory  won, 

For  when  the  din  of  battle  ceased, 

The  burning  sun  shone  down  upon  the  bloodv  field 

And  shone  on  foe  and  friend, 

W'ho  bravely  met  a  soldier's  fate, 

That  day  on  the  field  of  Port  Hudson. 

Now  fifty  years  have  gone, 

How  soon  they  pass  away, 

Since  we  did  wear  the  army  blue ; 

And  now  we  wear  the  gray, 

For  time  has  turned  our  hair  to  gray, 

To  show  us  near  the  end, 

And  soon  will  none  be  left  to 

Tell  the  tale  of  Port  Hudson. 

Were  I  to  pledge  those  bygone  days 

Oh  this  would  be  my  toast : 

"Here's  to  the  dear  old  Stars  and  Stripes, 

Our  country's  pride  and  boast; 

Here's  to  the  Union  Volunteers, 

Who  did  the  flag  defend, 

And  here's  to  my  old  comrades 

Who  fought  at  Port  Hudson." 

August  8th.  It  was  a  beautiful  morning  and  we  were 
in  camp  waiting  for  orders  to  start.  We  had  orders  to  be 
ready  to  go  on  board  the  Steamer  Thomas  Scott  at  twelve 
o'clock.  At  two  o'clock  we  were  gliding  down  the  old 


58 


Mississippi.  We  stopped  at  New  Orleans,  took  some 
horses  aboard  and  started  again  at  about  six  o'clock.  Ar 
rived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  at  midnight.  Here 
we  waited  for  a  pilot,  took  him  on  board  and  was  off  again. 

August  9th,  Sunday.  At  6 :30  o'clock  we  passed  the 
bar,  left  the  pilot  and  in  a  short  time  were  out  of  sight  of 
land.  The  captain  of  the  boat  said  he  would  land  us  in 
New  York  by  Saturday  night,  if  all  went  well. 

August  10th.  It  was  a  fine  morning  and  we  were  en 
joying  ourselves  with  a  deck  passage  at  that. 

August  llth.  This  morning  we  passed  several  light 
houses  ;  one  was  upon  Tortugas  Island. 

August  12th.  The  old  steamer  was  making  good 
speed.  Comrade  Chadwick  died  last  night;  this  morn 
ing  he  was  buried  at  sea.  He  was  a  member  of  our  regi 
ment  and  enlisted  from  Andover,  this,  state. 

August  13th.  This  morning  was  very  fine,  but  the 
ship  rolled  and  pitched  considerable,  owing  to  being  in  the 
Gulf  Stream. 

August  14th.  The  old  ship  was  making  good  speed 
and  we  were  hoping  to  get  into  New  York  harbor  by  Satur 
day  night,  as  it  was  getting  pretty  tiresome  on  the  old 
filthy  vessel,  with  the  vermin  almost  unbearable. 

August  15th.  This  was  a  beautiful  day  and  the  old 
steamer  continued  making  good  time. 

August  16th.  The  day  was  fine  and  we  expected  to 
get  into  port  at  night  and  our  expectations  were  realized, 
about  seven  o'clock  after  being  in  this  dirty  place  for  a 
whole  week. 

August  17th.  We  arrived  in  port  last  night  but  had 
to  stay  upon  the  ship  another  night.  I  managed  to  get  a 
small  loaf  of  bread  and  if  I  remember  correctly,  I  wasn't 
long  devouring  it,  for  we  had  had  nothing  but  hard-tack 
and  raw  salt  pork  to  eat  and  condensed  water  to  drink 
since  we  went  aboard  the  ship  at  New  Orleans.  This 
(Sunday)  morning  we  were  allowed  to  go  ashore  and  were 
kept  penned  up  till  about  night  when  we  went  aboard  the 
good-looking  old  boat,  City  of  Hartford.  We  arrived  in 


59 

Hartford,  if  my  memory  serves  me  correctly,  at  about  10 
o'clock  Monday  morning,  August  18th,  1863,  and  I  guess 
we  were  about  as  tough  a  looking  set  of  fellows  as  ever 
came  off  the  boat.  Yes,  I  must  admit,  we  were  a  pretty 
hard  looking  set,  what  there  was  left  of  us,  for  we  had 
dwindled  down  to  less  than  one-third  the  number  which 
left  Hartford  about  a  year  previous.  What  a  change  had 
come  over  us.  Why,  some  of  our  friends  didn't  know  us, 
we  had  changed  so.  One  comrade  in  particular  I  will  men 
tion,  Wm.  Goodrich.  He  went  from  Glastonbury  in  my 
company.  He  was  a  big  fine  looking  man,  weighing  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  when  we  went  away,  and  when 
he  came  home  he  hardly  weighed  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
Was  it  any  wonder  that  our  friends  couldn't  recognize  us 
with  the  beards  we  had  grown  on  our  faces,  and  the  soiled 
clothing  we  were  wearing?  Well,  I  finally  reached  home 
and  you  can  imagine  how  glad  I  was.  I  think  that  I  felt 
much  as  the  Prodigal  Son  did  when  he  returned  home.  To 
get  my  clothes  off  and  get  into  a  good  bed,  (which  I  had 
not  done  for  about  a  year)  and  to  be  cared  for  by  a  kind 
and  loving  mother,  I  never  felt  more  like  singing,  "Home, 
Sweet  Home." 

In  closing  this  sketch  of  the  gallant  Twenty-fifth  Regi 
ment,  I  would  say  that  war,  as  far  as  my  experience  goes, 
is  not  the  thing  it's  cracked  up  to  be.  Though  anyone  can 
get  used  to  all  kinds  of  horrid  sights,  in  a  measure,  I  could 
tell  some  things  that  I  don't  think  one  would  care  to  hear. 
But  I  will  omit  all  description  as  it  is  best  learned  by  ex 
perience.  I  think  scant  justice  has  been  done  to  the  Nine 
teenth  Army  Corps  and  General  Banks,  inasmuch  as  the 
field  of  action  while  in  Louisiana  was  far  away  and  until 
the  fall  of  Port  Hudson,  was  cut  off  from  the  North  except 
by  the  sea.  The  public  attention  was  taken  up  in  the 
States  along  the  border  and  even  our  great  victory  at  Port 
Hudson  was  eclipsed  and  looked  upon  as  a  consequence  of 
the  fall  at  Vioksburg.  But  they  did  a  great  deal  of  hard 
fighting  and  made  hundreds  of  miles  of  hard  marchings  in 
a  climate  to  which  the  men  were  not  accustomed. 


60 

An  Interesting  Incident. 

It  was  in  the  Spring  of  1863,  and  General  Banks  had 
inaugurated  the  campaign  which  ended  in  the  capture  of 
the  last  stronghold.  We  had  marched  to  the  very  out 
works  of  Port  Hudson,  and  engaged  the  Confederate 
forces,  on  that  historic  night,  when  lashed  to  the  maintop, 
high  above  the  boiling  surges,  stout-hearted,  Farragut, 
drove  his  vessels  through  the  storm  of  shot  and  shell,  that 
was  hurled  upon  him  from  the  heights  above,  and  cut  the 
Rebel  communications  between  Port  Hudson  and  Vicks- 
burg.  These  two  fortified  places  were  the  only  ones  left 
on  the  Mississippi  River,  not  in  our  hands.  Grant,  was  al 
ready  hammering  at  Vicksburg,  but  before  Port  Hudson 
could  be  invested,  it  wras  necessary  to  dispose  of  Confed 
erate  General  Taylor  and  his  forces,  who  from  their  posi 
tion  in  the  South,  could  fall  upon  our  unprotected  rear  or 
make  a  dash  for  New  Orleans.  Returning  then,  to  our 
camp  at  Baton  Rouge,  after  a  few  days'  rest,  we  were  sud 
denly  divided  into  two  forces,  one  marching  down  through 
the  country,  to  engage  the  enemy  at  New  Iberia,  and  the 
rest  of  us  sent  around  by  water  and  up  through  the  Atcha- 
falaya  to  intercept  and  cut  them  to  pieces.  It  was  only  a 
partial  success.  Driven  from  their  position  in  Fort  Bis- 
land,  they  fell  upon  us  before  we  were  fairly  in  position, 
and  held  us  in  check  while  the  whole  army  slipped  by. 
Then  commenced  a  long  pursuit,  enlivened  by  daily  skir 
mish  and  fighting  which  lasted  from  the  shores  of  the  Gulf 
to  Shreveport,  in  the  extreme  northwestern  corner  of  the 
state  where  they  were  driven  across  the  border  into  Texas. 

It  was  on  this  march  that  the  incident  occurred  which 
I  am  about  to  narrate.  iWe  had  been  marching  all  day, 
in  fact,  from  before  the  dawn,  trying  to  reach  the  Bayou 
Vermillion,  before  the  enemy  could  destroy  the  bridge. 
Men  fell  out  by  the  scores,  but  still  we  hurried  on  with  all 
the  speed  our  wearied  limbs  could  support.  Just  as  it  was 
growing  too  dark  to  see,  a  battery  opened  upon  us,  and 
there  was  a  sharp  charge  of  cavalry.  We  were  hastily 


61 

thrown  into  position  to  receive  them,  but  in  an  instant, 
wheeling,  they  dashed  across  the  bridge,  destroying  it  in 
our  very  faces  before  it  could  be  prevented. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday  and  while  we  camped  there 
waiting  for  the  construction  of  a  new  bridge,  about  half 
the  advance  division  took  the  opportunity  to  strip  and  go 
in  bathing.  Suddenly,  without  an  instant's  warning,  a 
troupe  of  cavalry  dashed  down  the  opposite  bank,  and 
opened  fire  upon  us.  Such  a  spectacle  never  before  was 
seen.  The  long  roll  was  sounding  and  naked  men,  in 
every  direction  were  making  a  dash  for  their  guns,  trying 
to  dress  as  they  ran.  Some  with  their  trousers  on  hind 
side  before,  didn't  know  whether  they  were  advancing  or 
retreating,  and  some  ran  the  wrong  way,  others,  with 
simply  a  shirt  and  cap,  were  trying  to  adjust  their  belts. 
Officers  were  swearing  and  mounted  aids  were  dash 
ing  about,  trying  to  make  order  out  of  confusion. 

The  next  day  we  were  ordered  to  Barry's  Landing, 
to  act  as  guard  for  a  steamer  coming  up  through  the 
bayous  with  supplies,  and  here  my  story  properly  begins. 
It  was  April  22,  1863,  and  the  regiment,  exhausted  by  the 
conflict  of  the  14th,  and  the  rapid  march  ensuing,  following 
hard  upon  the  track  of  Taylor's  flying  forces,  from  Frank 
lin  to  Opelousas,  was  resting  at  Barry's  Landing,  when 
suddenly  the  whole  camp  was  thrown  into  a  ferment  of 
excitement  by  the  news  that  the  paymaster  had  arrived, 
and  would  be  at  headquarters  at  12  o'clock.  Oh,  welcome 
news  to  men  who  had  been  without  pay  for  six  months. 
How  the  eye  glistened,  and  the  mouth  watered  for  the 
leeks  and  flesh-pots  of  Louisiana ! 

What  visions  of  Sutler's  delicacies  opened  up  once 
more  to  those  whom  long-tick  had  gradually  restricted  to 
a  Spartan  diet  of  hard-tack  and  salt  pork.  What  thoughts 
of  home  and  the  money  that  could  be  sent  to  loved  ones 
far  away,  suffering,  perhaps  for  lack  of  that  very  money — 
but  how  to  do  it, — there  was  the  question.  Here  wre  were 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  Rebel  country,  two  hundred  miles 


at  least  from  New  Orleans,  in  the  midst  of  an  active  cam 
paign.  No  opportunity  to  send  letters  except  such  as 
chance  threw  in  the  way,  and  no  certainty  that  such 
letters  would  ever  reach  their  destination.  Added  to  this, 
came  the  order  to  be  ready  to  march  at  four  o'clock. 
Whither  we  knew  not,  but  the  foe  was  ahead,  and  our  late 
experience  had  taught  us  that  life  was  but  an  uncertain 
element  and  that  a  Rebel  bullet  had  a  very  careless  way  of 
seeking  out  and  finding  its  victim.  In  the  midst  of  all  the 
bustle  and  confusion,  the  sergeant-major,  William  E. 
Simonds  came  tearing  along  through  the  camp  excitedly 
inquiring  for  Lieut.  Goodell.  That  estimable  officer,  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  having  received  no  pay,  owing  to  some  inform 
ality  in  his  papers  when  mustered  in  from  second  to  first 
lieutenant,  had  retired  into  the  shade  of  a  neighboring  mag 
nolia  tree,  and  was  there  meditating  on  the  cussedness  of 
paymasters,  mustering  officers,  the  army  in  general.  In 
fact,  everything  looked  uncommonly  black  and  never  be 
fore  had  he  so  strongly  believed  in  universal  damnation. 
To  him,  then,  thus  communing  came  Sergeant-major  Sim 
onds,  and  said:  "You  will  report  for  duty  at  once  to  head 
quarters  ;  you  are  directed  to  receive  the  pay  of  the  regi 
ment  and  proceed  forthwith  to  New  Orleans,  there  to  ex 
press  same  home,  returning  to  the  regiment  as  soon  there 
after  as  practicable." 

The  rest  we  will  let  Lieut.  Goodell  tell  in  his  own  way : 


How  the  Pay  of  a  Regiment  Was  Carried  to  New  Orleans 
by  Lieutenant  Henry  Hill  Goodell. 

"Gone  at  once  were  my  sulks,  vanished  in  an  instant  my 
ill-humor,  black  demons  and  everything.  Though  I  could 
not  help  wondering  how  in  all  creation  I  was  going  to  per 
form  a  journey  of  several  hundred  miles  that  would  occupy 
a  week  at  least  without  a  cent  of  money  in  my  pocket,  a 
clerk  was  detailed  to  assist  me,  and  for  the  next  hour  I 


HENRY  HILL  GOODELL 
Deceased 

Served    as    2nd    and    1st    Lieutenant,    Co.    F,    25th    Regiment, 
Connecticut  Volunteers. 


63 

counted  money  over  a  hard-tack  box,  jamming  it  away 
instantly  into  my  haversack  while  he  entered  in  a  little 
book  the  amount  received  from  each  person,  the  sums  given 
to  pay  for  its  expressage,  and  the  addresses  to  which  it  was 
to  be  sent.  No  time  to  make  change.  Even  sums  were 
given,  counted,  and  tucked  away  with  rapidity.  At  the 
landing  was  a  little  stern-wheel  steamer,  captured  from 
the  Rebels,  which  was  to  leave  from  Brashear  City  in  an 
hour  or  two.  The  sick  and  wounded  were  hastily  trans 
ferred  to  it,  and  as  the  regiment  marched  off,  I  stepped  on 
board  with  my  precious  haversack,  now  swollen  out  to  un 
wonted  proportions.  Not  a  state-room,  not  a  berth  was  to 
be  had.  There  was  no  safe  in  which  I  could  deposit  val 
uables.  Too  many  knew  what  I  was  carrying,  and  I  dared 
not  for  an  instant  lift  the  weight  from  my  shoulder  or  to 
remove  my  sword  and  pistol.  Like  Mary's  lamb,  where'er 
I  went,  the  haversack  was  sure  to  go. 

"Never  shall  I  forget  the  beauty  of  that  sail,  and  but 
for  the  feeling  of  distrust  and  suspicion  that  made  me  look 
upon  every  man  that  approached  me,  as  a  personal  enemy, 
I  should  have  thoroughly  enjoyed  it.  We  were  dropping 
down  one  of  those  little  bayous  that  intersect  the  state  in 
every  direction.  The  spring  freshets  had  swollen  the 
stream  and  set  its  waters  far  back  into  the  forests  that  lined 
its  banks  on  either  side.  Festoons  of  Spanish  moss,  droop 
ed  like  a  mourning  veil  from  bough  to  bough.  Running 
vines  with  bright  colored  sprays  of  flowers  twined  in  and 
out  among  the  branches  of  the  trees.  The  purple  passion 
flowers  flung  out  its  starry  blossoms  to  the  world,  the  sign 
and  symbol  of  the  suffering  Saviour.  While  the  air  was 
heavy  with  the  scent  of  magnolias  and  yellow  jassamine. 
Crested  herons,  snowy  white,  rose  from  the  water,  and 
stretching  their  long  necks  and  legs  out  into  a  straight  line 
with  their  bodies  winged  their  flight  above  the  tree-tops. 
Pelicans  displayed  their  ungainly  forms,  as  they  snapped 
at  the  passing  fish  and  neatly  laid  them  away  for  future  ref 
erence  in  their  pouches.  Strange  birds  of  gaudy  plumage 


flew  from  side  to  side,  harshly  screaming  as  they  hid  them 
selves  in  the  dense  foliage.     Huge  alligators  sunned  them 
selves  along  the  shore,  or  showed  their  savage  muzzles,  as 
they   slowly   swam   across  our  path.     Frequently  at   some 
sharp  bend,  it  seemed  as  if  we  must  certainly  run  ashore, 
but  the   engine  being  reversed,  the   current  would   swing 
the  bow  around  and  by  dint  of  hard  pushing  with  poles, 
we  would  escape  the  threatened  danger,  and  start  again  in 
our  new   direction.     Sunset   faded  into  twilight,   and  twi 
light  deepened  into  the  darkness,  and  silence  of  a  South 
ern  night,  and  then  the  entire  loneliness  and  responsibility 
of  my  position  suddenly  overwhelmed  me.     I  had  no  place 
to  lie  down,  and  hardly  dared  sit  for  fear  of  falling  asleep. 
It  seemed  as  though  I  could  hear  whispers  behind  me,  and 
every  now  and  then   I   would  catch   myself  nodding,   and 
wake  with  a  cold  chill  running  up  and  down  the  small  of 
my  back,_  as  I  felt  sure  that  some  unlawful  hand  was  tam 
pering  with  my  burden.     With  the  coming  of  the  dawn,  I 
breathed  more  freely,  and  the  day  seemed  interminable,  and 
it  became  a  very  burden  to  live.       Twice  we  broke  down 
and  tying  up  to  a  friendly  tree  repaired  the  damage.     Night 
came  again  and  found  us  still  miles  away  from  our  desti 
nation.     It  was  horrible.     I  walked  the  deck,  drank  coffee, 
pinched  myself.   'Oh,  if  I  can  only  keep  awake !'    I  kept  re 
peating  to  myself.     But  at   2  o'clock   in  the   morning  we 
broke  down  again,  with  the  prospect  of  being  detained  some 
hours.     I  knew  that  if  I  did  not  reach  Brashear  City  by  7 
o'clock  I   should  be  another  dreary  day  on  the  way,  and 
lose  my  connections  with  the  single  train  for  New  Orleans. 
Time  was  an  element  of  importance,  for  I  should  lose  the 
mail  steamer  for  New  York  and  be  delayed  in  my  return 
to  the  regiment  which  I  had  left  in  the  heart  of  Louisiana 
marching  onward — I  knew  not  where,  but  with  faces  set 
toward  the  North. 

"Finding  that  we  were  distant  from  eight  to  twelve 
miles  across  country  according  to  the  different  estimates, 
I  determined  to  make  the  attempt  to  reach  it  on  foot.  Any 


65 

danger,  anything  seemed  preferable  to  staying  on  the  boat. 
With  the  first  breaking  of  the  dawn,  when  I  could  get  my 
bearings,  I  slung  myself  ashore.  A  private  in  my  regi 
ment  discharged  for  disability,  begged  to  accompany  me. 
With  weapons  ready  for  instant  use,  we  pushed  along, 
afraid  of  our  own  shadows,  looking  for  a  lurking  foe  behind 
every  bush,  and  when  some  startled  bird  suddenly  broke 
from  its  cover,  the  heart  of  one  at  least  stood  still  for  a 
moment  and  then  throbbed  away  like  a  steam  engine.  If 
a  man  was  seen,  however,  distant,  we  dropped  to  cover  and 
watched  him  out  of  sight  before  we  dared  move.  For  the 
first  mile  our  progress  was  very  slow — now  wading  through 
water,  now  sinking  in  the  mud,  floundering  about  as  best 
we  could,  while  the  mosquitoes  and  gnats  settled  down  on 
us  in  swarms,  uttering  a  triumphant  buzzing  as  though 
they  recognized  the  fact  that  they  had  fresher  blood  to  feed 
on  than  that  offered  by  the  fever-stricken  victims  of  the 
South  and  were  determined  to  make  the  most  of  their  op 
portunity.  But  the  open  country  once  reached  we  length 
ened  out  our  steps  and  struck  into  a  six-mile  gait.  Soon 
my  companion  began  to  falter  and  fall  behind.  But  I  could 
not  afford  to  wait,  telling  him  I  presumed  he  was  all 
right,  but  I  could  not  run  any  risks,  I  stood  him  up  by  a 
tree  and  talking  his  gun,  marched  off  a  couple  hundred 
yards,  then  laying  it  down  I  shouted  to  him  to  come  on, 
and,  setting  off  at  the  top  of  my  speed,  saw  him  no  more. 
Whether  he  ever  reached  his  destination  or  whether  wan 
dering  helplessly  along —  he  was  swooped  down  upon  by 
some  gorilla,  and  led  away  to  starve  and  die  in  a  Southern 
prison,  I  did  not  learn  for  many  years.  At  the  last  re 
union  I  attended,  I  was  called  upon  to  respond  to  the  toast 
"The  Postal  Service  of  the  Regiment,  and  What  You  Know 
About  It,'  and  at  the  conclusion  of  my  remarks,  a  stout 
grizzled  veteran  grasped  my  hand  and  said:  'Look,  I'm 
glad  to  see  you.  I  thought  it  pretty  cruel  to  leave  me  alone 
in  Dixie,  but  you  had  warned  me  beforehand  and  I  guess 
you  were  right.' 


66 


"Avoiding  the  houses  and  striking  across  the  fields,  I 
made  the  last  part  of  my  way  at  full  run,  and  drew  up 
panting  and  exhausted  at  Berwick  Bay  shortly  after  six. 
Not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost.  I  could  hear  the  engine  puf 
fing  across  the  waters.  Shouting  to  a  darkey,  who  seemed 
to  rise  up  preternaturally  out  of  the  ground,  I  ordered  him 
to  row  me  over;  and  a  more  astonished  man  I  think  I 
never  saw  than  he  was.  IWhen  on  reaching  the  opposite 
shore,  with  but  ten  minutes  to  spare,  I  bolted  from  the  boat 
without  a  word,  and  started  on  the  run  for  headquarters. 
The  general  was  asleep,  but  an  aid  carried  in.  my  pass, 
signed  by  General  Banks,  brought  it  back  countersigned, 
and  in  five  minutes  more  I  was  aboard  the  train  moving 
on  to  New  Orleans. 

"Of  this  part  of  my  journey  I  have  a  very  indistinct 
remembrance.  My  impression  is  that  I  dozed  whenever  T 
sat  down,  and  I  was  so  tired  I  could  hardly  stand.  I  had 
had  nothing  to  eat  since  the  night  before  and  was  faint  and 
exhausted  with  hunger,  and  my  exertions.  Nothing  but 
the  special  training  my  class  had  taken  in  gymnasium 
during  the  previous  year,  for  just  such  an  emergency, 
pulled  me  through  the  long  run  and  long  fast  following  it. 
It  was  only  a  run  of  100  miles  but  I  think  we  must  have 
stopped  to  wood  and  water  at  every  cotton-wood  grove  and 
swamp  along  the  way;  and  I  remember  at  one  of  these 
periodical  stops,  going  out  on  the  platform,  and  falling  into 
an  altercation  with  a  little  red-headed  doctor,  who, 
whether  he  had  scented  my  secret  or  not,  with  that  divine 
intuition  for  discovering  the  hidden,  peculiar  to  the  craft, 
had  made  himself  officially  offensive  to  me,  and  now,  want 
ed  to  borrow  my  revolver  to  shoot  a  copper-head  that  lay 
coiled  up  by  the  side  of  the  track.  Refused  in  that,  he 
next  wanted  to  examine  my  sword,  and  when  under  some 
trifling  pretext,  I  abruptly  left  him  and  going  inside  the 
car,  sat  down  as  near  as  possible  to  a  bluff-looking  lieuten 
ant,  whose  honest  face  seemed  a  true  indication  of  char 
acter,  his  wrath  knew  no  bounds  and  was  quite  outspoken. 


67 

'Peace  to  your  injured  spirit,  oh  fiery-headed  son  of  Escu- 
lapius,  if  you  are  still  in  the  land  of  the  living !  I  here  tender 
you  my  humble  apologies.  Doubtless  you  intended  noth 
ing  more  than  to  compare  the  efficiency  of  my  leaden  balls 
with  one  of  your  own  deadly  Bolouses  or  to  see  how  my 
cleaver  compared  in  sharpness  with  one  of  your  own  little 
scalpels.'  But  at  that  particular  time  I  should  have  been 
suspicious  of  my  own  brother  had  he  desired  to  inspect  or 
use  my  arms. 

"It  was  late  Saturday  afternoon  when,  tired  and  faint, 
I  landed  in  the  city.  Pushing  straight  to  the  office  of  the 
Adams  Express  Company,  I  told  them  I  had  the  pay  of  a 
regiment  to  express  home  and  wanted  five  or  six  hundred 
money  order  blanks  and  envelopes.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  look  of  incredulity  with  which  the  clerk  looked  at  me. 
I  was  dirty  and  ragged,  just  in  from  the  front,  with  no 
shoulder-straps,  for  we  had  been  ordered  to  remove  them 
and  diminish  the  chances  of  being  picked  off  by  the  sharp 
shooters  but  had  sword  and  pistol  and  an  innocent  looking 
haversack  hanging  at  my  side.  However,  he  said  not  a 
word,  but  passed  over  the  papers. 

"My  next  adventure  was  in  a  saloon  where  on  calling 
for  a  drink  of  whiskey,  I  was  informed  that  they  were  not 
allowed  to  sell  to  privates.  On  my  throwing  down  my  pass 
signed  by  Gen.  Banks,  the  courteous  keeper  acknowledged 
his  mistake,  and  invited  me  to  take  something  at  his  ex 
pense.  Immediately  after  supper  to  which — it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say — I  was  accompanied  by  that  confounded 
haversack,  I  fairly  loathed  it  by  this  time — I  retired  to  my 
room,  locked  the  door  and  went  to  work.  Excitement  kept 
me  up  and  by  2  o'clock  everything  was  done.  The  money 
counted  and  placed  in  the  envelopes,  and  the  blanks  filled 
out,  and  the  footing  correctly  made.  Then,  only  did  I 
know  how  much  I  had  carried  with  me  and  how  precious 
were  the  contents  of  my  haversack.  Barricading  my  door, 
with  the  table,  and  wedging  a  chair  in  between  it  and  the 
bed,  I  thrust  the  haversack  between  the  sheets,  slid  in  after 


68 

it,  laid  my  revolver  by  the  pillow,  and  in  an  instant  was 
sound  asleep.  The  next  morning  on  going  down  to  break 
fast  I  innocently  inquired  of  the  clerk  in  the  office  if  he 
would  give  me  a  receipt  for  valuables.  'Certainly/  was  his 
smiling  rejoinder.  'For  how  much?'  'Twenty-four  thous 
and  three  hundred  and  forty-six  dollars/  I  replied  and  half 
opening  my  haversack,  showed  him  the  bundles  of  express 
envelopes,  explaining  that  it  was  the  pay  of  a  regiment. 
'Where  did  you  keep  this  last  night?'  was  the  next  ques 
tion.  'In  my  room.'  'You  d—  —  fool,  it  might  have  been 
stolen.'  'True,  but  I  thought  it  would  be  safe  enough  and 
besides  I  did  not  know  how  much  I  had.' 

"Breakfast  over  I  repaired  at  once  to  the  office  of  the 
express  company  and  by  noon,  with  my  receipts  in  my 
pocket,  I  stepped  forth,  feeling  as  if  a  gigantic  load  had 
rolled  from  my  shoulders. 

"Of  my  journey  back  there  is  no  need  to  speak;  suffice 
it  to  say  that  two  or  three  weeks  thereafter,  one  night  as 
the  sun  was  setting,  I  stood  with  beating  heart  on  the 
levee,  outside  of  Simsport  on  the  Red  River,  waiting  for  the 
coming  of  the  regiment  on  its  march  down  from  Alexan 
dria.  Column  after  column  passed  and  still  I  waited.  But 
suddenly  I  caught  the  roll  of  drums  and  there  came  a  dim 
ness  over  my  eyes,  for  I  recognized  familiar  forms.  The 
colonel  riding  at  the  head,  the  little  drum  major,  the  colors 
and  each  well  (known  face.  As  they  came  up  I  saluted, 
someone  recognized  me,  and  called  my  name.  Instantly 
the  cry,  'Lieutenant  Goodell  has  come !'  swept  down  the 
line,  and  with  one  mighty  shout,  the  boys  welcomed  back 
the  bearer  of  their  pay.  That  night  I  went  from  camp-fire 
to  camp-fire  and  gave  to  each  orderly  sergeant  the  receipts 
for  his  company.  Of  all  that  money,  only  one  envelope 
went  astray,  and  the  express  company  made  good  the  loss." 


69 


ROSTER. 

The  following  gives  as  near  a  complete  list  of  those 
who  served  with  my  regiment : 


Macon  C.  Weld, 


COMPANY   A. 


Captains. 


Charles  L.  Norton. 


Leander  Waterman, 


First    Lieutenants. 

William  H.  Parmlee. 


Daniel  P.  Dewey, 
George  W.  Hugg, 


Second   Lieutenants. 

Henry  C.  Ward, 
George  H.   Goodwin. 


Daniel  Calahan, 
Aaron  Cook, 
William  S.  Hubbell, 


Sergeants. 


Albert  H.   Olmsted, 
Samuel  L.  Otis, 
Harris  B.  Wildman. 


George  H.  Forbes, 
James  W.  Gates, 
William  H.  Hawley, 
Edgar  B.   Hills, 
Martin  B.  Hillis, 
William  B.  Keyes, 


Corporals. 


Joseph  F.  Lincoln, 
William  H.  Smith, 
Albert    F.    Thompson, 
Gurdon  Trumbull,  Jr., 
Charles  L.  Ulrich, 
Edwin  A.  Woodbridge. 


Samuel  S.  Folwell, 


Musicians. 

Henry  Sipel, 
George  D.  Stewart. 


Privates. 


Charles  R.  Arnold, 
George  A.  Avery, 
Ira  A.  Baldwin, 
Merritt  W.  Baldwin, 
Newton  H.  Baldwin, 
Henry  W.  Barber, 
Emerson  W.  Belden, 
Franklyn  D.  Brewster, 
'Frank  E.  Brockway, 
James  L.  Brockway, 
James  B.  Chapman, 
John  Collins, 


'Thomas  Costello, 
Philip  E.  Cowles, 
Henry  H.  Deming, 
Philip  H.   Demings, 
William   H.   Faxon, 
Michael  Flaherty, 
George  S.  Gage, 
Albert  Gates, 
Thomas  Gorman, 
John   Harger, 
Everett  S.  Hayden, 
Hugh  Heath, 


70 


John  Holt, 
Clayton  P.  Holcomb, 
William  W.  House, 
Williard  Kent, 
Harvey  C.  Hurlbut, 
Franklyn  E.  Kilby, 
Wyllys  Kilby, 
George  W.  King, 
James   Lanan, 
Charles  W.  Lathrop, 
John  Lawrence, 
Charles   Loveland, 
Eldred  C.  Mitchel, 
John  C.  Moose, 


Privates  (Continued) 

Emery  A.  Mosman, 
Francis  W.   Munn, 
John  O'Conner, 
William  Phippeny, 
Lucien   Rice, 
Charles  W.   Risley, 
John  Robinson, 
Dennis  Ryan, 
Henry  Sage, 
Oliver  L.  Steele, 
Anthony   Stokes, 
Joseph   P.   Sumner, 
Henry    C.    Taylor, 
Leonard  Thompson, 
Archibald   Wilson. 


COMPANY  B. 

Captain. 
Arthur  T.  Hinckley. 

First  Lieutenant. 
Henry  A.  Darling. 

Second  Lieutenants. 

Daniel  V.  Marshall,  William  A.  Oliver, 

Frederick  W.  White. 


Henry  W.  Caye, 
Samuel  W.  Steele, 


Sergeants. 

William    Sewart, 
William  Taylor. 


John  Brown, 
William  C.  Bruce, 
William  W.  Chappell, 
Hiram  Craw, 


Corporals. 

James   Jordon, 
Henry  A.   Spalding, 
Franklyn  E.  Wallace, 
William  J.  Warren, 
Andrew  F.  Williams. 


Musician. 
Elizuer  S.  Reed. 


71 


Privates. 


William  Anderson, 
Joseph  Baily, 
Levi  Baily, 
Steven  T.   Bartlett, 
Sylvester   Bartram, 
Levi  Benson, 
Joseph   Barnard, 
William   Blake, 
Austin    Booth, 
Avery  Brown, 
Thomas  F.  Bunce, 
James  Burns, 
Albert  Cady, 
Richard  Craw, 
George  Dean, 
William  Dewolf, 
Alexandra    Dorr, 
Horace  Driggs, 
Adney  B.  .Gladding, 
Azriah   Gladding, 
Robert  Hen, 
Henry  N.   Hobart, 
Edward  Holdham, 
Eli  Hull, 
James  Hunt, 
George  Jenks, 
Jeremiah  Jennings, 
Patrick  Kennedy, 


David  Lamdon, 
Robert  Lindsey, 
John  Martin, 
'Robert  Mitchell, 
Steven  Murphy, 
David  W.  Nodine, 
Rowland  Perry, 
George  O.  Pettibone, 
Chauncey   Rodgers, 
Ferdinal  Sage, 
John   Silcox, 
Davis  D.  Stevens, 
Henry  D.  Stevens, 
Charles  Taylor, 
Charles   C.    Taylor, 
Edwin  M.  Thome, 
Patrick  J.  Tracy, 
William  H.  Tuttle, 
George  J.  Vanloon, 
William   Wait, 
William  A.  Waters, 
Aralzia  Westland, 
Martin   Whapies, 
Henry  B.  Whitford, 
George   Wicks, 
George    Wilson, 
Joseph  Williams, 
Loren  Wright. 


Samuel  S.  Hayden, 


COMPANY  C. 
Captains. 

Richard  W.  Roberts. 


First  Lieutenant. 
Alfred  W.  Converse. 


Gurdon   Trumburm, 


Second  Lieutenants. 

Benjamin    F.    Turner. 


Addison  F.   Lamphear, 
William  C.  Anderson, 
Levi  G.  Hayden, 


Sergeants. 


George  H.  Snow, 
Jacob  A.  Turner, 
Gardner  Wilmarth. 


Ira  B.  Addis, 
Joseph  Fisher, 
Robert   Morrison, 
Edward  Newport, 


Norman  Fassett, 


Corporals. 

Cyrus  Root, 
Elisha  H.  Skinner, 
George  H.  Smith, 
William  W.  Strickland, 
Benjamin  F.  Wilcox. 

Musicians. 

James  E.  Lacey. 


Privates. 


Jason  Smith, 
William  H.  Baldwin, 
Daniel  B.  Barnard, 
Alfred  Beers, 
Noble  H.  Bennett, 
John   Brandley, 
Charles  Burgess, 
Jerome  K.  Button, 
"Leander  W.  Button, 
William  Button, 
John  Cahill, 
Horace  L.  Carter, 
Chester   Casey, 
Daniel  B.  Chalker, 
James  A.  Chadwick, 
John  N.  Clemings, 
Charles  A.  Cobb, 
George  C.   Denley, 
James  Dixon, 
Chauncey  F.  Doane, 
Henry   H.    Doyle, 
Thomas  H.  Eaton, 
John  I.  Fowler, 
Oliver   Giddings, 
Albert    Graham, 
Francis  A.  Graham, 
Martin   Haley, 
Thomas  C.  Hancock, 

Edmond   D. 


William  K.  Hardie, 
Chester  M.  Hills, 
James  L.  Hodge, 
'Willington  Jackson, 
Ora  B.  Kibbe, 
Ferdinand  Kramer, 
Arthur  P.  Moors, 
Michael  Moran, 
James   Murray, 
.George  H.  Nelson, 
Henry  S.  Persons, 
Abraham   Phelps, 
William  Porter, 
Charles  O.  Risley, 
Eugene  Risley, 
John    Sarsfield, 
William  H.  Sann, 
Leonard  Schaeffer, 
Henry  Shaw, 
James  N.  Skinner, 
John  C.  Smith, 
James  W.   Smith, 
Osborne  Smith, 
John    Terhune, 
"Henry  Waters, 
Charles  Weeks, 
John    Williams, 
George  W.  Whittlesey, 
Wilmarth. 


COMPANY  D. 

Captain. 
George  H.  Foskit. 

First  Lieutenant. 
Oscar  W.  Sanford. 


73 


George  Brennan, 


Second  Lieutenants. 

Ephraim  Taft. 


Michael   Noland, 
Francis  Patten, 


Sergeants. 

George  Root, 
Franklyn  D.  Winters. 


James  D.  Fenton, 
Alonzo  L.  Howard, 
Ralph  Lull, 
Francis  R.  Munsell, 


Corporals. 


Marvin  A.  Shearer, 
Daniel  Webster, 
Albro  Weir, 
Henry   Whiton. 


Emery  Carpenter, 


Musicians. 


Henry  Hotchkiss. 


Privates. 

James  H.  Adams, 
John  R.  Aldrich, 
Francis  A.  Allen, 
Joseph  Allen, 
Samuel  Bartlett, 
David  Belcher, 
James  M.  Blanchard, 
John  Brennan, 
Abner   S.   Brooks, 
John  Bumstead, 
James   Clark, 
Paine  Cleveland, 
Frederick  A.  Close, 
Timothy  Collins, 
Aaron   Converse, 
Andrew  A.  Converse, 
Sumner  Converse, 
John   Corcoran, 
Nathaniel    Cushman, 
Erwin  O.  Dimock, 
William  H.  Dudley, 
Leander  Duncan, 
Sereno  E.  Dwight, 
Penuel  Eddy, 
William  G.  Faulkner, 
Truman  P.  Fenton, 
George  Ferry, 
Adorno  P.  Fisk, 
John  Foskitt, 
William  A.  Francis, 

Giles  Woodworth. 


George  A.  Frinke, 
Dexter  S.  Goodrich, 
John  Grey, 
Zebular    Grey, 
Jeremiah  Guiney, 
John   Halthouszer, 
Samson  Hulett, 
Elam  Hyde, 
Henry  K.  Knapp, 
Dwight  Leonard, 
Homer  A.   Lord, 
Freeman  Marcy, 
Gustin  B.  Marble, 
Henry  McKinney, 
Theodore  P.  Needham, 
David  E.  Norris, 
George  Patten, 
Albert  C.  Pinney, 
Julius  Pinney, 
Lucius   Pinney, 
Calvin  Porter, 
David  W.  Putney, 
William   Rodgers,   Jr. 
Dwight  Scripture, 
James  N.  Sibley, 
Ira  P.  Sisson, 
Abraham   H.   Vanshaack, 
Joseph  A.  Washburn, 
Madison  C.  Willis, 
John  Wood, 


74 


Newton  P.  Johnson, 


Almon  C.  Banning, 


George  B.  Thurston, 
Eugene  C.  Alderman, 
Miles  H.  Barnard, 


James  Boyle, 
Wilbur  B.   Case, 
William  W.  Clark, 
Emery   M.   Griffin, 
Andrew  N.  Moore, 


Ezra  Smart, 


COMPANY   E. 
Captains. 

Leander  Waterman. 

First    Lieutenants. 

Robert  T.  Duncan, 

Second  Lieutenant. 
Edward  Pinney. 


Sergeants. 


Miletus  H.  Carrier, 
Marcillus  C.  Clark, 
Henry  W.  Davis. 

Corporals. 

Alexandria    Patterson, 
Edward  D.  Prindle, 
Morton  Sandford, 
Julius   Weed, 
George  L.  Wells. 

Musicians. 

William  H.  Wallin. 


Privates. 


Owen    Bacon, 
Elbert  I.  Earning, 
William   Barton, 
Lyman    J.    Barden, 
Eugene  Brown, 
Phelps   Church, 
Franklyn   Clark, 
George  H.   Clark, 
Miles  C.  Clark, 
Dewitt   Coe, 
Leverett  H.  Coe, 
Sylvester  T.  Cook, 
Theron    Cowdry, 
Leavett    Emmons, 
Luther  W.   Eno, 
Patrick  Farley, 
Thomas    Farley, 
James   McGoodrich, 
Edwin   J.  Gower, 
Sparling   J.   Gower, 


Henry  E.   Griffin, 
James   Harvey, 
Gilbert  Hayes, 
Elizah  T.  Holcomb, 
Tryon  Holcomb, 
Steven  A.  Hollister, 
Elizah   Hyer, 
Alonzo   S.   Jones, 
William  H.   Kempton, 
Frederick  Kramer, 
Charles   H.    Lamphear, 
Webster  B.   Latham, 
Samuel  A.  Lawton, 
William  Maher, 
Francis   Mann, 
Lucius  F.  Marks, 
Patric    McAuliffee, 
John   McAuley, 
Francis   Messinger, 
Harlow   Messenger, 


75 


Lorenzo  Messenger, 
Richard    Moore, 
Marcus  Moses, 
Alfred    A.    Phelps, 
Nelson  W.  Pierce, 
James  Reynolds, 
George   M.    Searles, 
John  Shaughnessy, 
Edward    Sperry, 


Privates  (Continued) 

Hiram  F.   Squire, 
John    Lydenham, 
Charles   W.    Tallmadge, 
Lewis  C.  Tallmadge, 
George    Taylor, 
Leroy  Tuller, 
Charles    E.    Tyning, 
Hiram  L.   Warner, 
Charles    Wilcox, 
William  Wilson. 


COMPANY   F. 

Captain. 
George  H.  Napheys. 


Henry  Kimball, 


First    Lieutenants. 

Henry  H.  Goodale. 


Jonas  G.  Holden, 
Henry  R.  Pease, 
William  O.  Bissell, 


Sergeants. 


Charles  D.  Grover, 
Augustus   S.   Lancaster, 
Carlos  W.  Thrall, 


Charles  K.   Belknap, 
Orville  F.  Belknap, 
Arthur  A.  Hyde, 
Samuel  A.  Smith, 


Corporals. 

Harlow  Spencer, 
Wallace  S.   Talcott, 
John  Thompson, 
Alva  T.  Thrall, 
Carlos  Thumb. 


Horton  Pease, 


Musicians. 


George   Warner. 


Privates. 


Horatio  R.   Baker, 
Roger  G.  Beebe, 
William  H.  Bennet, 
Norton  M.  Braman, 
Patrick   Brannen, 
Oliver  Burke, 
Charles  Cavanaugh, 
John  A.  Chism, 


Timothy  Conner, 
Martin   Connins, 
Patrick  Duffy, 
William   Finney, 
Henry  M.  Fowler, 
Enoch  C.  Haskings, 
William   Hatter, 
Francis    Hoffman, 


76 


Harvey  E.  Kibbee, 
Michael  Long, 
Francis  Morgan, 
John  Nick, 
Alonzo  Nobles, 
Mark  Nobles, 
Andrew  Palmer, 
Byron  W.   Pease, 
John  Porus, 
William  Reed, 
George  R.  Robinson, 


Privates  (Continued) 

John  M.  Royce, 
Samuel    Schlesinger, 
'Edward  Shears, 
Charles   P.   Smith, 
Daniel   Sullivan, 
Francis  M.  Taft, 
Jason  Thrall, 
Erskine   Wallace, 
Henry  Weller, 
Jonas  E.  Wilson, 
James  W.  Wright, 
Jerome  H.  Mather. 


COMPANY  G. 

Captain. 
Charles  H.  Talcott. 

First  Lieutenant. 

Hezekiah  Bissell. 

Second   Lieutenant. 

Charles  Avery. 


Benjamin  F.  Turner, 
Samuel  C.  Harding, 
Nathan    Willey, 


Charles  H.  Barber, 
Charles  H.  Bartholomew, 
John  Brown, 
Erastus  Cowles, 
Wm.   H.   Ellsworth, 


Sergeants. 

Lemuel  R.  Lord, 
John  C.  Rockwell, 
Elijah  Ward. 


Corporals. 


Edwin   D.   Farnham, 
John  M.  Lee, 
Walter  T.  Lord, 
John  Roe, 
John  H.  Skillman. 


Daniel  L.  Talcott, 


Musicians. 

Elihu   Wattress. 


Wagoner. 

Lucius  Crane. 


Seth  S.  Allen, 
Henry  Avery, 
George  W.  Ayers, 
Ransford  Baker, 
Samuel   Barrows, 
Elam  Belknap, 
Joseph  Belknap, 
Alfred  M.  Bissell, 
Carlos    Bissell, 
Samuel  T.  Bissell, 
Lavalette   Blodgett, 
William   Brown, 
Albert  Covill, 
James  M.  Cr?ne, 
Samuel  K.  Ellis, 
Chauncey    B.    Ellsworth, 
John    Ellsworth, 
Theodore  Ellsworth, 
Francis  O.   Fish, 
J^hn    F.    Fitts, 
Michael   Flinn, 
James  F.  Fox, 
Charles  E.  Gage, 
Nathan   C.   Gibbert, 
Ezra  Goodale, 
William    M.    Goodrich, 
Edward    Gowdy, 
Richard   C.   Green, 
William  W.  Green, 
Jesse    Griffith, 


Privates. 

Burgess   S.  Hale, 
William  H.  Haling, 
Samuel   Hamilton, 
John  L.  Harper, 
Julius  Hays, 
Waldo  Hayes, 
Orrin   G.   Hollister, 
Henry   C.   House, 
Dewitt  C.   House, 
Elisha  E.   House, 
Horace   P.   Kingsbury, 
James  H.  McKee, 
Robert   McNorton, 
William  Moffitt, 
Horace    H.    Newbury, 
'Elihu   S.    Olcott, 
Charles   Parker, 
Philander  Phiney, 
Thomas  Rabeth, 
Maro    Robinson, 
Franklyn  Sadd, 
Eugene  S.  Samson, 
Henry   M.    Sexton, 
Henry  M.  Shipman, 
Welles  G.  Skinner, 
Richard    Smith, 
Nelson  H.  Staples, 
Fred   W.    Ticknor, 
William   A.    Ticknor, 
Michael  Ward, 
Gerald  Welles. 


Bononi   E.    Buck, 


Arthur  W.  Andross, 
Charles  F.  Bevins, 
Thomas  A.   Davis, 
William  Holden, 


COMPANY  H. 

Captain. 

William  W.  Abbey. 

First  Lieutenant. 

Dwight  Ensworth. 

Second   Lieutenants. 

Charles    Clapp, 
John  M.  Brown. 

Sergeants. 

William  M.  Hollister, 
Aaron  Kinne, 
Sumner  Payne, 
Thomas  H.  Robins. 


78 


Daniel  W.  Dimock, 
George  D.  Fuller, 
Oliver  Hale, 
John   H.   Hunt, 


William  Hempstead, 


Burton  P.  Buell, 
Edward  L.  Barber, 
George  E.  Belden, 
George  F.  Belden, 
Lyman  P.  Bemont, 
Horace  E.   Brown, 
Egbert  Chapman, 
George  A.  Chapman, 
George  B.  Clark, 
Andrew    Conly, 
Nicholas  W.   Cotter, 
Wm.  Daley, 
Joseph    Dunbar, 
John   Eley, 
John  C.  Foote, 
Truman  Foote, 
Joseph   Gould, 
Joseph  R.   Gould, 
William  G.  Green, 
Francis   Hale, 
Frederick  A.  Hale, 
Carey   Holmes, 
Henry  C.   Holmes, 
Samuel  T.  Holmes, 
Andrew   Hollister, 
David   W.   Huntington, 
Newton  B.  Jacobs, 
William    W.    Kellogg, 
Charles    Kolb, 


Corporals. 

Theron  I.   Neff, 
Willington    C.    Graves, 
Julius  H.  Smith, 
Justus  R.  Stevens. 

Musicians. 

George  Robinson. 


Privates. 


Charles    M.    Parmelee, 
Franklyn   Parmelee, 
William  H.  Pelton, 
Thomas  G.  Porter, 
Ambrose^Reynolds, 
Charles  E.  Rich, 
Joseph  A.   Richardson, 
Benjamin   Rogers, 
William    Rook, 
John  Ryan, 
George  W.   Simson, 
Sylvester    Skinner, 
Edward  Spencer, 
George  W.   Spencer, 
Wm.  W.  Stebins, 
Albert   E.    Taylor, 
Evelyn   C.   Taylor, 
Christopher  Walker, 
Horace  F.  Walker, 
James   Wallen, 
Marshall  J.  Warner, 
Henry  W.  Webb, 
Francis  Wells, 
George  Whitman, 
Norman  Whitman, 
Charles    Wilson, 
Wm.  Wilson, 
John  Williams, 
'Lewis  F.  Wright. 


Burritt  Darcow, 


COMPANY 
Captains. 


Hiram  W.   Harkness. 


First  Lieutenant. 
Isaac  W.  Beach. 


79 


J.  Fayette  Douglas, 
Charles  H.  Allspress, 


Elbridge  fielding, 
Wm.   E.   Bunnell, 
Henry  W.   Buys, 
Wm.   Cocking, 
Charles  S.  Cook, 


Second   Lieutenant. 
William  E.  Symonds. 

Sergeants. 

Charles  W.   Brown, 
George  H.  Grant, 
John  C.  Mack. 

Corporals. 

John  M.  Francis, 
Viette  D.   Hills, 
Merritt  Hubbell, 
Edgar   A.    Norton, 
George   Schubert, 
Orrin  Tuttle. 


Andrew  J.  Davis, 


Musicians. 

Cornelius  A.  Day, 
Oliver  A.  Hitchcock. 


Privates. 


Daniel   S.   Abbot, 
Henry  Adams, 
Solomon    Adkins, 
John  F.  Bacon, 
Wm.    C.   Bancroft, 
Samuel  Barton, 
Amon  L.   Bradley, 
Samuel    Bradley, 
Lucian  C.  Bunnell, 
Alvinsa  H.  Case, 
John  Conklin, 
Frederick  A.  Cowles, 
Silas  E.  Coye, 
Vitruvius  D.  Coye, 
Charles  Crittenden, 
Ambrose  A.  Curtiss, 
John  Day, 
Jules    Dechamp, 
Isaac    Dozvier, 
Wm.  C.  Elton, 
Harcey  R.  Fellons, 
Paul    Corini, 
Henry  O.  Hampe, 
Wm.   Hart, 
Wm.  W.  Hubbard, 
Henry  D.  Hunt, 
Charles  W.   Hurlburt, 


John  Jacobs, 
Hichard   Jennings, 
Harry  W.  Judd, 
Niles  M.  Keeney, 
Theron  D.  Lewis, 
Henry  Low, 
Charles    Morris, 
Wm.  Morris, 
Seereno   S.   Nichols, 
Frederick    Ni/ghtingale, 
Patrick   Nolan, 
John   Nolan, 
Silas  Parde, 
Albert  C.  Peck, 
Noble  Peck, 
Richard   L.   Peck, 
Edward  Pettibone, 
Lucinen  Philps, 
Henry  W.  Porter, 
Edward   J.   Pratt, 
Francis  J.  R~athburn, 
Gilbert  S.  Richmond, 
Burton  C.   Richardson, 
Henry  Riley, 
Henry   E.   Rockwell, 
Herman  D.  Saul, 
Charles  B.  Scoville, 


80 


Joel  F.  Shepard, 
Philo  Stevens, 
Samuel   Stocking, 
Ira  Taft, 
John  Tracy, 


Privates  (Continued) 

Edward  W.   Warner, 
Wm.  Webster, 
John  Wilson, 
James   Williams, 
Charles    Wfinterfeldt, 
Henry  D.  Wright. 


J  mes  E.  Hamilton, 
Watson  H.  Bliss, 
Robert   Buckley, 


Ezra  C.  Ayer, 
Frank    Bolles, 
John   W.   Longdon, 
James  E.  Lusk, 


Charles   Malona, 


Eugene  Adam, 
George  W.  Arnold, 
Henry  W.  Ball, 
Hudson  W.   Ball, 
Cyrus  C.  Barber, 
George  W.  Barren, 
John  W.  Beach, 
Abel  P.   Beers, 
Enos  S.   Belden, 
Walter  J.  Bliss, 
George  D.  Buck, 
Edgar  W.   Burnham, 
Wm.  H.  Butler, 
Christopher   Carney, 
John  Carter, 


COMPANY   K. 

Captain. 
William  F.  Silloway. 

Second  Lieutenant. 
Senica  Gorham. 

Sergeants. 

Charles  W.  Clark, 
John  Scantlin, 
George  E.  Terry. 

Corporals. 

Robert  Mason, 
Charles  E.  Puffer, 
Emerson  B.  Thomas, 
Stanley   N.   Wadsworth. 

Musicians. 

Charles  Stone. 


Privates. 


Edward  W.  Case, 
Horace  O.  Case, 
Marshal  W.  Case, 
Wm.   Case, 
David  Clark, 
Edward    Collins, 
John  A.   Currey, 
Joseph  W.   Curtis, 
Franklyn  Dart, 
Frederick  W.  Dart, 
Franklyn  B.  Davis, 
Jabez  Ferris, 
Henry  Forsch, 
Franklyn  B.  Fuller, 
Seth  H.  Fuller, 


81 


Privates  (Continued) 


Wm.    Graham, 
Alfred   D.   Hart, 
Isaac  Y.  Hartson, 
John  B.  Hills, 
Alphonso   J.   Hinckley, 
Byron  W.  Kurd, 
Thomas   G.   Jefferson, 
Richard  D.  Johns, 
Frederick    Keeney, 
Edwin  H.  Lathrop, 
David  Lewis, 
George  V.  Lusk, 
John   Mack, 
David  A.  Malory, 
Wm.  C.  Manwarring, 
Emery   F.   Messenger, 
Eldridge    Messenger, 
Obed    Messenger, 
Lucius  Morse, 
Newton  H.  Morley, 
Wm.    E.   Morgan, 
Andrew  T.  Nickols, 
Charles  E.   Olmstead, 
Norton  T.  Parsons, 


Israel   C.   Peck, 
Joseph   S.   Pember, 
Wm.  Porter, 
Charles  L.  Rice, 
Orrin  Robbins, 
Richard  E.  Rose, 
Wm.  W.  Simons, 
Wm.  K.   Spencer, 
Wm.  K.  Strickland, 
Sylvester   Symonds, 
Webster  D.  Thomas, 
George  W.  Thompson, 
Horace  A.  Thompson, 
Wm.  E.  Tucker, 
Charles   Upson, 
Lucius   F.  Wadsworth, 
Lynas  E.  Webster, 
Henry  M.  Weed, 
Freeman   Wilcox, 
Augustus  W.  Williams, 
Wm.  L.   Winship, 
Alson  T.  Woodruff, 
Asahel    Woodford, 
Charles  G.  Wright. 


The  following  are  friends  of  S.  K.  Ellis  who  served  with  him 
in  the  Twenty-fifth  Regiment: 

Company  G. 

Lieutenant  Charles  Avery,  Sergeant  Benjamin  F.  Turner,  Ser 
geant  Samuel  C.  Harding,  L.  R.  Lord,  Charles  H.  Barber,  Charles 
H.  Bartholomew,  John  M.  Lee,  Daniel  L.  Tolcott,  Elam  Belknap, 
Albert  Covill,  John  F.  Fitts,  Charles  E.  Gage,  Orrin  G.  Hollisten 
Horace  P.  Kingsbury,  Wells  G.  Skinner,  Jerad  Wells,  Chauncy 
Ellsworth. 

Company  B. 

First  Lieutenant  Henry  H.  Goodale,  Charles  B.  Grover,  Arthur 
A.  Hyde,  Samuel  A.  Smith,  John  Thompson,  George  R.  Warner, 
Henry  W.  Coye,  William  C.  Bruce,  William  W.  Chappell,  Hiram 
Craw,  Joseph  Bailey,  Levi  Bailey  Avery  Brown,  Loren  Wright, 
George  Wicks,  John  Silcox. 

Ellington  furnished  35  men  who  went  out  in  Company  F. 


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